Chess thrives in rural Idaho school
By JESSIE L. BONNER
(Published September 12, 2008)
COUNCIL, Idaho — The elementary school at the edge of this rural town had to scrape money together just to clear the weeds from the playground, which boasts little more than a swing set.
But deep in central Idaho forest, students at Council Elementary School also square off as kings and queens in a game that dates back at least 1,500 years.
Chess, once used by royal families in India and Persia as a way to teach war strategy, is now being taught to second- and third-graders across Idaho once a week as part of a plan to make students better at subjects like math and reading.
“At first I thought, ‘You’ve got to be kidding,'” said Penny Lattimer, a Council Elementary teacher. “We already have so much stuff to teach.”
Lattimer didn’t know how to play chess until last year, when she and a dozen other Idaho teachers were trained as part of a pilot program to bring chess into public schools. The state Department of Education has now invested $120,000 into the project, which was tested in 100 schools last year and expanded this fall to 100 more.
Source: Fort Mill Times
Everything thrives except the uscf.