Texas school district mandates Arabic language and culture studies (Updated: MISD responds)
I’ve been hearing rumbles about this for a month or so now, as many parents in the area are not happy about it. At issue is Mansfield Independent School District’s decision to force students at a few of its schools to learn Arabic. It’s not an elective; Arabic will be a required language. Parents are also upset at the way the district notified them of the new requirement.
The Foreign Language Assistance Program (FLAP) grant was awarded to Mansfield ISD last summer by the U.S. Department of Education.
As part of the five-year $1.3 Million grant, Arabic classes would be mandatory at Cross Timbers Intermediate School and Kenneth Davis Elementary School. The program would also be optional for students at T. A. Howard Middle School and Summit High School.
Parents at Cross Timbers say they were caught off-guard by the program, and were surprised the district only told them about it in a meeting Monday night between parents and Mansfield ISD Superintendent Bob Morrison.
The DOE is promoting the study of Arabic (along with Chinese), calling it a “language of the future.” I could see a national security reason to identify students who show an aptitude for Arabic early in life, but this program, coming from this administration, doesn’t seem to be about national security. And it’s apparent that the MISD knew the program would be controversial, and tried to keep parents out of the loop.
The DOE has identified Arabic as a ‘language of the future.’ But parent Joseph Balson was frustrated by the past. “Why are we just now finding out about it?” asked Balson. “It’s them (Mansfield ISD) applying for the grant, getting it approved and them now saying they’ll go back and change it only when they were caught trying to implement this plan without parents knowing about it.”
Update: The school district has responded, and I share this blogger’s confusion over that response.
Recent concerns have been raised by parents concerning plans for the curriculum. We are working with parents and staff for the language curriculum development.
- Mansfield ISD has slowed the process of implementation to get parent input for curriculum creation.
- There are no “mandatory Arabic classes” as being falsely reported in the media.
- As part of language acquisition and development, the early grades would have elements of Arabic language within the framework of the state-mandated curriculum.
So there are no mandatory classes, but the learning will be part of the mandatory curriculum. And the difference is…?
Living in Texas, I would say that Spanish is the “language of the future.”
I wonder if the first thing they’re taught will be the shahada.
Imagine if there had been a big Government push like this back during the cold war encouraging the study of Russian… oh wait there was:
http://www.hoover.org/publications/hoover-digest/article/6289
Big difference between ‘mandatory’ and ‘elective’ school requirements.
That students be encouraged to learn a language is good.
That students be forced to learn a language is fascist.
Will they be forced to fast for Ramadanadingdong?
While I think learnign additional languages is a great thing, no child should be forced to learn a specific language. He/she should be able to make a choice of the language he is to study.
This sound more like islamic appeasement to me.
This is NO way to implement something, especially in such a Communistic manner!!! F47 above is quite correct. Encourage but don’t force, especially given what we’re up against with the Islâmic world
What we really need instead to do throughout the West – extreme, exceedingly distasteful and painful as it is – is to both (a) permanently stop any and all Muslim immigration, (b) round up and deport ALL Muslims back to where they (or their ancestors) came from in the Islâmic world! Those converts to Islâm born here and who have no Muslim ancestors are best dealt with as follows: Shi’ites can be deported to Irân, Sunnites to Saudi Arabia.
[The only exceptions, to be interned until Islâm and the West are fully separated, are those who can prove that (a) being sent to the Muslim world would result in their lives being in danger AND (b) they've always been good Westerners, putting Western values, nationality, culture and everything else above their ideology throughout their stay hitherto on Western territory (especially if they've converted away from Islâm - something that would jeopardise them in any Muslim country!).]
Horrible as these measures indeed are – I loathe the very thought thereof! – honestly, this writer can’t see any way to escape them if we’re to save ourselves and our way of life!! Given how everything about Islâm is militantly opposed to ALL the West stands for, with its adherents determined to impose that ideology worldwide and exterminate everybody and everything else, this will soon be the only real way for the West to save itself from sure destruction. We’re fast approaching a state of “kill or be killed” (also thanks to Muslims’ high birthrate) – and these sadists (fancy your getting killed by having your throat slit!!!!) at heart are so unreasonable and fanatical such as to make it impossible to negotiate with or to trust them with anything whatsoever.
In fact, Muslims are at heart totally untrustworthy due to their ideology (it’s far more all-controlling and bigoted than any religion can be!) – please look up the Arabic words “taqiyya” and “kitman”. Making matters worse is that those wretches despise and aspire to destroy everything and anything not “Islâmic” – music, art, science, you name it!!! They really want to push the world back 1,400 years, with all that we’ve striven for being exterminated beyond all recall.
It’s for all these reasons why Islâm and the West can NEVER co-exist in the same lands: only an Iron Curtain keeping them and us totally separated is a realistic long-term solution, including the minimum possible commerce between those worlds.
Yours is the first rational response to the threat this nation faces from Islam that I’ve ever seen! It’s as if no one has ever read the Koran or even just about it… like they’ve all been given a dumb drug. I just don’t get it. How and why would entire nations be suicidal and not defend themselves? Especially the U.S.?
This was a FEDERAL grant as in a grant from Big Brother Obama. We now know Obama’s backers are also backing the Muslim Brotherhood. You following me? So, the same people that put Obama in office are also the same people in Egypt orchastrating the uprising. FEDERAL GRANT to teach ARABIC…..makes sense to me.
Mansfield ISD was recently awarded a Foreign Language Assistance Program (FLAP) grant focused on the Arabic language from the Department of Education. The District applied for this grant because the Arabic language is listed by the federal government as a critical language. This means that our country has a shortage of Arabic speakers and there is a need for people who are not only proficient in the Arabic language, but also possess knowledge about its cultures and traditions.
Recent concerns have been raised by parents concerning plans for the curriculum. We are working with parents and staff for the language curriculum development.
Mansfield ISD has slowed the process of implementation to get parent input for curriculum creation.
There are no “mandatory Arabic classes” as being falsely reported in the media.
As part of language acquisition and development, the early grades would have elements of Arabic language within the framework of the state-mandated curriculum.
In the K-6 grades (Davis Elementary and Cross Timbers Intermediate), the curriculum-writing process has stopped.
In grades 7-12 (T.A. Howard Middle and Summit High School), Arabic language will be offered as elective courses to meet foreign language requirement.
This project is federally funded for $1.3 million dollars over a 5 year period.
The FLAP grant was created to establish programs to address national shortages in languages including Arabic, Chinese and Russian. Mansfield ISD was one of five school districts in the country selected to receive the Arabic grant. Programs related to the FLAP Arabic grant were scheduled to begin this semester at Cross Timbers Intermediate School and Kenneth Davis Elementary School. Optional Arabic foreign language classes were scheduled to begin next year at T.A. Howard Middle School.
Statement from Mansfield ISD:
Some have raised questions and concerns about the district’s implementation of the grant. Therefore, Mansfield ISD is slowing the implementation process and will be seeking input from parents in a variety of ways.
Parents will have full access to the written curriculum and will have opportunities for input prior to the district moving forward with this program.
My children attend Mansfield and if they are just talking about teaching the “LANGUANGE” I am all for it. I wish I knew the language. Then I wouldn’t need Fox News or CNN to translate. Ignorance is not bliss. I would like for my children to know what they are dealing with. Their moral gage is taught at HOME. So I dont have a problem with them learning the language.
Students should be encouraged to learn Arabic since much, if not most, of the subversive material of our enemies is written in Arabic. Youth is best time to learn a second language. We are going to need military personnel who are fluent in that language. But it’s wasted effort to try to “force” someone to learn anything.
so you meen that all arabic speaking people are your enemy?
Logic, Mohamed, logic. Wrong inference. Get with the programme.
Duh, no! Not all Arabic speaking people are an enemy, but muslims all pledge allegiance to Arabic Islamic commands in the Qur’an eg Sura9verse29 Fight those who disbelieve in Allah (me)and Last Day (me again), who refuse to obey Allah AND MUHAMMAD’s restrictions (yup, me again) and refuse to pay muslims ‘protection money’ (mafia-style) AND feel themselves subdued (not bloody likely mate)!
Long live freedom from Islam!
Offering Arabic as an option is one thing, making it a requirement is … interesting. Based on approximate number of speakers worldwide, the top 5 languages are: 1-Mandarin Chinese, 2-Hindi, 3-Spanish, 4-English, 5-Arabic. (English is the most prevalent language in international business.)
Chinese language programs are the fastest growing in US schools. In central Ohio, one school district is slated to receive more than $1M in federal taxpayer funds for its Chinese arts and language program. (Note the word “arts,” which means the program encompasses more than just language.) The district has been dubbed a Confucius Classroom and an additional $30,000 is being provided by the Chinese government to support the program. Naturally, school administrators and the MSM label citizen/parent concerns as hateful, fearful, ignorant or all three.
Perhaps the Texas program can be promoted under a similar catchy title. How about Caliphate Classroom? Junior Jihadis? Madrasa Mandate?
Also, it would be interesting to learn if any part of the funding comes from non-US sources. (Many college-level Arab Studies programs are funded by the Saudis, for example.)
Finally, I can’t help but wonder: How many schools require students to learn Hindi, the 2nd most widely spoken language in the world? Bet the answer to that is zip-zilch-zero-nada-sifir-nula-none.
There are no “mandatory Arabic classes” as being falsely reported in the media. There is no “forcing” going on.
Get rid of your president for he will be responsible for the crescent moon on your National Flag very soon…
The DOE is promoting the study of Arabic (along with Chinese), calling it a “language of the future.”
Interesting. They know something that we don’t?
Kaatib I do like your idea. The old expression “Know Thine Enemy’ is spot on. Being forced to study it is not on of course. Muzzies have been infiltrating America since the early 70′s and are fully cognisant with the culture. Poor things how they must be suffering the horrible western way of life. Enduring freedom of expression, movies, music, good food, nice homes, television, being able to drive anywhere, whenever they want, dress any way they want, all the while waiting patiently for the call to arms so they can bring in Sharia law and the Islamic way of life. Ah Islam will bring in no music, no movies, disgusting suburbs filled with rotting food and rubble, being able to kill your wife or daughter without being prosecuted, raping pre-pubescent boys and girls ahh Islam.
Python…You forgot to add dehumanisation of women.
My thoughts are this…The more devout the muslam the more he IS your enemy.
Maby not openly today but surely the day he senses that the time to strike is now. He will have you cooking your supper over a camel dung fire with his regressive ways.
They think that a mad man named Mohammed should be emmulated because he was the perfect man. ( a butcher,pedofile and sexual pervert )
There is reason for concern, although it is true that the school district claims these classes are not mandatory. They are now “slowing down” the process. Details here (http://danishova.blogspot.com/2011/02/flap-as-foreign-language-assistance.html)
the school kids need to learn proper english and spelling first. public schools are a disaster. the one s run by the unions are the worst. when you cant fire a lazy incompetent teacher then you have a giant problem on your hands. a teaching certification does not mean you know how to teach. i have 33 years teaching experience and i have seen this situation more than once. shameful.
Before anybody goes to quoque about this comments spelling: it looks like it was typed on an iPhone or iPad where worrying about capitalization and apostrophes slows you down too much while typing.
And yes, I do wish HS graduates would learn proper ENGLISH and math.
Aaargh. tu quoque!
This is from Wikipedia:
….Controllers communicate with the pilots of aircraft using a push-to-talk radiotelephony system, which has many attendant issues such as the fact only one transmission can be made on a frequency at a time, or transmissions will either merge together or block each other and become unreadable.
Although local languages are sometimes used in ATC communications, the default language of aviation worldwide is English. Controllers who do not speak this as a first language are generally expected to show a certain minimum level of competency with the language.
so are we now supposed to teach our controllers Arabic? Because its the language of the future?
Maybe its akin to the World War II plan of “Know Your Enemy”.
Seems clear that the difference is there are no mandatory classes in which you learn how to speak and read the Arabic language, however, in your other classes, you will be exposed to Arabic here and there, in the same way that, today, you might learn that the word “lariat” comes from the Spanish “la reata” meaning rope, or that RSVP means you are supposed to answer an invitation and stands for the French term “respondez s’il vous plait.”
For decades, children have been taught that the Arabs invented our numbering system. It didn’t turn them into mujehadin. I think the nation will somehow survive them being exposed to scary, terrorist words like “coffee” and “algebra” and “spinach.”
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