Thursday, November 12, 2009

It could happen here...




There's a story about the Executive Director of New York's Chess-in-the-Schools in yesterday's New York Times (free login required)

IN 1994, Marley Kaplan saw an ad for a half-time job at a not-for-profit organization. The pay: $25,000 a year.

That was a steep cut for a woman who had been earning a six-figure income in investment banking[....]

Today Ms. Kaplan is president of Chess-in-the-Schools, which now teaches 20,000 new children a year, with an annual budget of $3 million. Since 1986, it calculates, it has taught chess to 425,000 children on the theory that the game helps them develop basic analytical skills that lead to academic success.