All Arabic School. What do you think?

http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0601/p03s01-ussc.html

^ Too lazy to find the original article.

But basically the gist is there is huge controversy this upcoming school semester because of this all Arabic public school. Recently it was made into a dual language school (like 60 others in the city) and its still facing opposition saying itll be an American training ground for terrorists and extremists. Yeah... wtf. But aside from that, this school will not be focused on teaching english to young arabic students. What do you think of that. Is it anti-American to NOT teach them (now mostly) in arabic alone or should we try to Americanize the students and make English a top priority while respecting and teaching them about their Arabic heritage? I only bring this up here because another main issue is its a public school.

BTW theres also an all Chinese public school opening this year as well, the number of applications has been so high and the public opinion so positive that they're thinking of limiting the number of students and opening another school just like it.

I wouldn't mind having an Arabic school that teaches primarily Arabic, but I do agree that teaching English should also be a necessity because we do live in the USA and English is the primary language here. Not only that, English is the most predominantly used language around the world and lacking that part of your education limits your exposure to the world at large.

Personally, while I think that having such schools should be legal and people have the choice to go to such a school, I don't really see how going to an ethnically themed school will help you. I think assimilation is an important process and that if you don't develop skills to maintain relationships with people of different ethnicities, you may end up hurting yourself later because you might have trouble assimilating later if you have to deal with them at work or just outside of school.

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Originally Posted by StealDragon

http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0601/p03s01-ussc.html

^ Too lazy to find the original article.

But basically the gist is there is huge controversy this upcoming school semester because of this all Arabic public school. Recently it was made into a dual language school (like 60 others in the city) and its still facing opposition saying itll be an American training ground for terrorists and extremists. Yeah... wtf. But aside from that, this school will not be focused on teaching english to young arabic students. What do you think of that. Is it anti-American to NOT teach them (now mostly) in arabic alone or should we try to Americanize the students and make English a top priority while respecting and teaching them about their Arabic heritage? I only bring this up here because another main issue is its a public school.

BTW theres also an all Chinese public school opening this year as well, the number of applications has been so high and the public opinion so positive that they're thinking of limiting the number of students and opening another school just like it.

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I don't think there is anything wrong with the school itself or anything Un-American about it.

Things like this happen. The United States isn't exactly the most friendly country... I think that it's just because of the time period we're in that this is happening. I mean there used to be an act that prevented all Chinese people from coming into America.

If you set up a school in a country, teach its official languages... NOT whatever you want. I don't care if other languages can be taught - hey, I encourage learning new languages! - but I think it's ridiculous to not teach English in a country where everyone else speaks English. That's just disrespectful to the citizens of that country, and it allows isolation of communities (are those kids ever going to learn English?).

Better teach english as the first and arabic as the second language, learning anything other than english as a main language in the USA is a joke. And yes, as Digi already mentioned such stuff creates isolated communites which have a good chance to be hated by the americans for whichever stupid reason and vice versa.

Imagine you are a child of someone who works in Dubai for example.

I dont think the average american pupil is interested to go into a ordinary school there, you would rather want to go to a school where everyone speaks English, comes maybe from the same cultural background and so on.
So most likely you would visit a American school there, he? Would you want to get forced to lern arabic? Would you even bother thinking about it??

Why arent you accepting that there are people in this world who dont want to get involved in the american way of live and just go to school as they where used in their homecountry?
Maybe the children are only for the timebeing in this country. So for what the heck do they need to get used to a american schoolsystem??

Just think about it... not every nation on this planet is less developed than the US.

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Originally Posted by neruke

Imagine you are a child of someone who works in Dubai for example.

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I lived in Dubai for 4 years and the school system was centered around English. Though I was only in 2nd grade at the time, I was learning 4 languages: English, French, Arabic, and Hindi. Even if you don't want to get involved with American politics, English is still the most widely used language in the world, so it should be taught. Teaching a single language encourages narrowness.

@neruke: They're saying that it's stupid not the learn the official language of the country you're living in. In the example you've given, it's just as stupid not to learn Arabic when living in an Arabic-speaking country. Practically speaking, it's a good idea to learn the language of the country you're living in.

I just assume that most high-society brats who visit international or american schools in other countries dont care even the slightest bit of the language of the country they are in!


So it doesnt matter if YOU think English should be taught...
You dont want to be forced to do anything you dont want, so do people from other countries.
Just let them alone, they didnt do you anything.

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Originally Posted by Digital_Eon

If you set up a school in a country, teach its official languages... NOT whatever you want. I don't care if other languages can be taught - hey, I encourage learning new languages! - but I think it's ridiculous to not teach English in a country where everyone else speaks English. That's just disrespectful to the citizens of that country, and it allows isolation of communities (are those kids ever going to learn English?).

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Quick Quip - America has no official language.