Mandatory Arabic classes coming to Mansfield ISD

Here's the link.

I can understand the anger that the parents feel due to the school district making this decision w/o their input, but seriously? C'mon America.

Do they have any idea how much money you can make if you're fluent in Arabic? Take a look at the Middle East: how many countries are we at war with? How many don't really like us? How many of them are of strategic value?

I have no idea why anyone would be against their child learning a language that's going to be needed on the global stage. In all honestly I'm surprised they don't have mandatory Mandarin classes.

As for Spanish....if you can't speak some Spanish you're gonna be screwed in a few years.

In all honestly I'm surprised they don't have mandatory Mandarin classes.

Wasn't there a controversy some months ago about some district doing exactly that?

But yeah. Billion speakers. Come on.

I don't know about controversy, but I think a district in DC has it; I remember them meting president Hu a few weeks ago.

My Arabic could use work; it would of been great if I started learning earlier.

edited 8th Feb '11 10:49:51 AM by Kino

I will not read the comments section. I will not read the comments section. I will not read the comments section. I will not read the comments section. I will not read the comments section.

I have no idea why anyone would be against their child learning a language that's going to be needed on the global stage.

Because it's being added as a requirement?

That doesn't seem like an answer? Besides, a lot of colleges semi-require foreign languages, which means high schools make you take them. Honestly, my inability to speak anything but English embarrasses me.

The article doesn't say, what grades are involved here?

edited 8th Feb '11 10:58:05 AM by Tzetze

Elective, not a problem. Requirement? Let the student pick which language they want to lear as the requirement. Aren't most school districts like that? It was a requirement that you elected to pick one.

Making things elective has associated costs and difficulties.

There may also be just some other district particulars. For instance, the class may start at the point when Spanish stops being mandatory. The district council feels like there should be always a mandatory foreign language but it would probably be better to let people drop Spanish after a while o they pick another. Pick any number of factors, consider the possible requirements or benefits of the grant and the specific local issues will probably turn the whole thing into just a very specific local issue for which national media attention is a total waste of time.

But, no...we've got to get those comments sections.

The Grant, known as the Foreign Language Assistance Program Grant has identified Arabic as a 'language of the future.'

Ruh-roh!

I can't say I really care. Arabic is far from useless, unlike some requirements (pick your fave!)

I would find that pretty neat if I were there. More languages is always great. But I come from a two languages mandatory - one will be English - background so I don't know how my perspective might differ.

Mine didn't. They were trying a new "experimental" teaching technique which boiled down to teaching the basics for five different languages at once and then repeating the lesson for five years. If I were setting up the requirements, it'd be a elementary/middle school requirement, it would take approximately five years, and the student would get to chose the language.

SSOT - yoru post left me confused. Can you break that last one down a bit into bite-sized chunks?

I think requiring some form of a foreign language cass is acceptable, but I think making Arabic mandatory is wrong unless it's the only language class they offer. Which would be silly, in a place like Texas Spanish is widely available.

My Arabic is a bit rusty, I could stand to take a class, but I'd rather it was my choice. I can see why parents are kind of riled up.

Sorry, I tried to think of an example scenario but it started to sound like bollocks.

The district will have many other things that it wants to do, that it is forced to deal with and that affect the money supply and the choice of course and whether to make it mandatory or elective has to slot into all of that.

Examples wants: The council wants everybody to have spent some time studying two languages. The Council want to offer as wide a range of languages. The council wants each language course to run for at least a certain length so that you get to the point where the student gets the most reward. The council wants to tie in more cultural teaching with languages. The council would rather have an Arabic Culture course in one semester and an Arabic Language course in another.

Example problems: Students tend to prioritise languages lowly themselves. Students who would not take a language voluntarily bring the average grade down a lot more for that subject. Languages require more teaching time. The federal funding requires the culture component be tied into the course. The federal funding requires it be mandatory. The funding will only allow X amount to be spent on a teacher.

I can't cover them all, I probably can't think of them all but just imagine picking a couple from one list, being randomly assigned a couple from the other and then having to put them together. I suspect that at least one combination makes Mandatory Arabic the optimum.

The article isn't going to talk about those points. It's a crap article, maybe the video is better, I haven't watched but I find the article is normally just a typed up version of the video. Compare this one. This one has opinions of actual parents and compares what other nearby districts teach. Just slightly more information that acknowledges further variables.

Should the district have told people beforehand? Yes.

Would it be rather silly to oppose this? Yes.

Are people rather silly? Hell yes.

But yeah, having only one language makes sense. Instead of paying 6 or 7 teachers to come in for 4 periods with 12 kids each, you can have fewer teachers with more students.

Bad news for the teachers, but it makes sense for the district.

There is nothing wrong with having an elective Arabic class. It's even really, really good. Making it required is kinda ridiculous.

Arabic is not a language of the future. Arab people will learn to speak English in the country they speak in. Mandarin is much more important: China will become the bigger market at some point. Still English is and probably for a long time will remain the lingua franca of the world.

Do they have any idea how much money you can make if you're fluent in Arabic?

In 99% of jobs? None.

The parents are right to be annoyed. Mandatory Arabic is suboptimal on every level. The article mentions a grant, which I suppose explains what this is all about: money. In most of America there is no need to know a second language, which doesn't mean that foreign languages are useless, but if we are to make one mandatory how about Latin or Greek or French so that the little barbarians can read some great literature? Even from a purely utilitarian standpoint Spanish or German is far more useful than Arabic.

Of course, being a public school, no one will learn anything anyway so it hardly matters which one you pick.

^ Your last line had me laughing, congrats.

But yes - why not require something else...? Did they wake up one morning and decide "Gee, let's pick a language to be mandatory that is absolutely sure to get people totally bent out of shape...?"

does anyone have confirmation that it's mandatory? I skimmed the video but I didn't hear any school officials say it was mandatory.

but if we are to make one mandatory how about Latin or Greek or French so that the little barbarians can read some great literature

This thought process fills me with hate.

Is Latin a better pick?

So, uh, what about the Qu'ran, Kitab al-Miraj, the Suspended Odes, Layla and Majnun, Bayad and Riyad, One Thousand and One Nights, the Cairo Trilogy, Children of Gebelawi, The Thief and the Dogs, The Yacoubian Building..?

But yeah, I don't think this should be mandatory. It's not a bad idea, but it shouldn't be mandatory.

^

This. I would have loved it if my school had Arabic taught there, we only had Spanish and French, like most schools in my area.

But as an adult, about a decade later, I'd have to pass on it being mandatory. I hated having a language class mandatory in the first place, but having Arabic mandatory? It isn't a very useful language to know as an American if you aren't joining the military or DIA. Aside from parts of the UAE, most places that primarily speak Arabic aren't on the top of most US tourism choices.

Making Arabic mandatory is kinda a bad idea, but definitely offer Arabic, Mandarin Chinese, and Spanish.