Texas schools nix Arabic classes over fears of Islam

[babylonsister]

http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/02/09/arabic_classes_nixed/index.html

Texas schools nix Arabic classes over fears of Islam
A Texas school district has canceled some Arabic classes after complaints from parents about Islam
By Justin Elliott


Ever wonder why key federal agencies perennially face a shortage of Arabic speakers?

Here's one reason why that won't be changing any time soon. The Mansfield school district in Texas has canceled some Arabic classes after 200 parents showed up at a meeting on the new curriculum, with some angry that their children were going to be taught about Islam.

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports that the program, which is funded by a federal Foreign Language Assistance Program grant and was to also cover Arabic culture, has been put on hold for now. Here's how one parent of a fifth-grader assessed the situation:

{Cindy} Henderson acknowledged that some parents were upset that their children were learning about the Middle East.

"We don't want to discriminate against the entire Middle East," she said, "but {9/11} is hard to forget. They said they aren't going to teach religion, but I don't see how you can teach that culture without going into their beliefs."

Here's another reaction reported by the local CBS affiliate:

Some parents had concerns over religion. "The school doesn't teach Christianity, so I don't want them teaching Islam," said parent Baron Kane.

The school district has put up an exasperated statement promising that "There are no 'mandatory Arabic classes' as being falsely reported in the media." Some Arabic classes will be offered as electives for now while the district gets more parent input.

[CanonRay]

1. Morans!

[Ian David]

2. Learning Arabic turns you gay. That's why all our Arabic translators were fired under DADT. n/t

[Flubadubya]

5. Well, in their minds it is as contagious as "teh gay"!

Learn Arabic and you are an automatic Muslim... :eyes:

[Ian David]

6. Just like watching Dora The Explorer turns you Mexican.

Can you say 'pendejo,' boys and girls? That's right! Muy bien!

[Proud Liberal Dem]

32. Robot Chicken once did a hilarious sketch

involving Dora and Boots being accused of being illegal immigrants. :rofl:

[JackintheGreen]

11. I only took a semester of Arabic in college

Does that explain my confusing sexual fantasies? :P

[kentauros]

15. I've considered taking it or Farsi.

How difficult was it to learn, and to pronounce? Those factors may be some of my reasons for holding back in learning either one :)

[JackintheGreen]

18. It was a lot of fun

I'm a total language nerd and it was one of the more fun languages I've studied. The sounds rolled off my tongue in a lovely cascade. If you can pronounce Yiddish words correctly you won't have any problem. I didn't find it too hard, but my interests were elsewhere at the time and the opportunity for more Arabic didn't really exist.

If I had to do it over again I would study Farsi, though. I am now a south Asianist specialising in south India (Dravidian languages) and Arabic doesn't do me a spot of good, but Persian was the court language across large parts of India for several centuries. It will feed further studies into Dari, Pashtun, even Urdu, where Arabic culturally covers a region I am less interested in. Also, my understanding is that, say, Egyptian Arabic is much different from Saudi Arabic from Iraqi, etc, so that moving between nations is linguistically more difficult unless you have great facility. This is only what I have heard, and I am sure there are people on DU who could tell you more correctly.

So I guess it depends why you want to study one or the other. Think about the context you are hoping to use it in to help you decide.

[kentauros]

30. I'd say you have a pretty good idea of what languages are dominant where

:)

My own "needs" are not nearly as serious. I'd like to make my westernized Middle Eastern fantasy-writing a little more authentic, if I could pick exotic-sounding words and know their proper meanings and use. Of course, I don't want my readers to have to refer to a Farsi dictionary all the time, either ;)

But, a few words here and there, or proper greetings would help lend a nice bit of authenticity to the overall story (djinn and that kind of magic, by the way.) I have a strong interest in that culture, especially their arts, too :D

[EyeofRamen]

25. Remember, you also have to learn to read "backwards"

from the way you're reading now.

Don't know about Farsi, but Arabic words are written right to left.

[JackintheGreen]

27. True, but not as hard as you might think.

Rongorongo is read boustrophedon, right to left to right to left as you move down each line of text.

[kentauros]

31. True

though I think I'm more interested in conversational language skills right now. Reading and writing it will come later. However, I do not know how it's taught...

[Rabrrrrrr]

3. Such fucking idiots. I can't imagine going through life being so filled with fear all the time.

It has to be exhausting.

[Ilsa]

24. Well, they figure it is easy to brainwash kids about religion.

After all, they've probably done the same at home. :-)

[Ian David]

4. You know, first you learn Arabic, and then the next thing you know...

... The U.S. Calvary is riding camels!


http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074614/

[WatsonT]

7. I agree with the sentiment that

schools shouldn't be teaching Islam or any other religion (leave church/temple/mosque etc separate). And of course if the classes turned preachy they should be removed from public schools.

However the article doesn't seem to state that will be the case.

Although arabic shouldn't be mandatory: a foreign language should be with several options presented.

[Skip_In_Boulder]

8. Translation: I'm going to see that my kids learn nothing

And to think, people will actually debate whether or not America is imploding.

[Freddie Stubbs]

9. Woudn't Spanish be more useful, especially in Texas?

[w8liftinglady]

12. Spanish is offered as one of the choices. and ,yes- Spanish, Czech and German

would be much more beneficial-

[w8liftinglady]

23. that being said, Arabic and Vietnamese are spoken by a LARGE population here.

and would be smart languages to offer

[JackintheGreen]

26. Czech? Really?

I grew up outside Chicago then moved to western Mass, both places with high Slavic population, and I never considered Czech "useful," even though I ended up studying Polish (also not useful, except with my in-laws). But in Texas?

And the Polka King, Frankie Yankovic, was Slovene (I think). Anyway...must stop avoiding work.

[kentauros]

34. As strange as it may sound, Texas has a large Czech population.

Although, there are more Germans here, according to the Handbook of Texas Online: Germans

Here's their page on http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/plc02">Czechs in Texas, too :)

[JackintheGreen]

35. Interesting. Thanks. n/t

[kentauros]

13. Yes, except in Houston

and maybe in Dallas and Austin. Houston has a huge Arabic/Middle Eastern community, with many of them being Lebanese. We also have the second-largest Indian population on the continent, possibly due to the medical center here, but I've also heard from some of them that it's our climate, too ;)

There's an Islamic education center around here that teaches classes in Farsi and Arabic for free, and I've thought about going there. I do have a few friends here that can speak in those languages.

[MineralMan]

10. I learned Russian, courtesy of the USAF,

back in the late 60s. When I was in my home town on leave, a couple of people commented that now I was going to turn into a Communist because I spoke Russian. They were serious. Some people are amazingly stupid.

[EyeofRamen]

28. Guess that means my hubby is a Communist.

The US Army taught him the same language in the late 1990s. :hi:

[kentauros]

14. Technically, there is at least one mandatory 'Arabic' class,

and you can bet every adult in that room took it, too: al-jabr (Algebra)

I wonder how many heads would have exploded if a school official there had pointed that out... :P

[CRK7376]

16. Carrying on with your al jabr rant, I like this one....

Subject: TEACHER ARRESTED IN NEW YORK -  >  >  > 
A public school teacher was arrested today at John F. Kennedy International  Airport as he attempted to board a flight while in possession of a ruler, a protractor, a compass, a slide-rule and a calculator. At a morning press conference, the Attorney General said he believes the man is a member of the notorious Al-Gebra movement.  He did not identify the man, who has been charged by the FBI with carrying weapons of math  instruction. 'Al-Gebra is a problem for us', the Attorney General said.  'They derive solutions by means and extremes, and sometimes go off on tangents in search of absolute values.'  They use secret code names like 'X' and 'Y' and refer to themselves as 'unknowns', but we have determined that they belong to a common denominator of the axis of medieval with coordinates in every country. As the Greek philanderer Isosceles used to say, 'There are 3 sides to  every triangle'.   When asked to comment on the arrest, President Obama said, 'If God had wanted us to have better weapons of math instruction, he would have given us  more fingers and toes.'  White House aides told reporters they could not recall a more intelligent or profound statement by the President..  It is believed that the Nobel Prize for Physiques will follow----

[kentauros]

20. He was probably recruited into a Trig Sect at an early age.

:rofl:

Thanks! :D

[JackintheGreen]

21. Hahaha. Lovely!

I take issue with one sentence, though.

"'If God had wanted us to have better weapons of math instruction, he would have given us more fingers and toes.'"

Not true. The Babylonians used a base 60 that they counted off using each digit on one hand to count off "each" knuckle on the other (actually only the first three and only on index through pinky) so 1-12, 13-24, etc. Ingenious.

[Angry Dragon]

22. +1000

[ProgressiveProfessor]

17. Other languages are basically ignored in US education when compared to other nations

Damn shame actually

[zinnisking]

19. I will never forget Sept. 11th either

...and how it stupefied the American public!

Sarah Palin said that national security is the number one responsibility of the federal government. Apparently Cindy Henderson and her peers don't heed their teacher's wisdom. They should be blaming the Cheney/bush admin. for Sept. 11th ...NOT an ancient language.

Fools.

[mainer]

29. Will learning Chinese turn you into math whizzes?

Maybe Texans should stop teaching American English. It seems to produce only stupidity down there.

[Blue_Tires]

33. I don't get it...

All these Wall Street CEOs (many of them in Texas) blab on and on about how American kids don't have the skills to be successful in the jobs marketplace, and yet Texas schools are killing an essential skill...

Does Big Oil Texas honestly think Arabic fluency has no worth whatsoever?