Mandatory Arabic Classes for American Elementary Public School Students?

According to CBSDFW, the Mansfield ISD got a federal grant for Cross Timbers Intermediate School and Kenneth Davis Elementary School to have required classes in Arabic. The Arabic classes would be optionally available for students at T. A. Howard Middle School and Summit High School. Along with the Arabic language, students would study the culture, government, traditions, and history of those who speak Arabic. In the past two hours this was put on hold.Many parents were upset that they were not informed about this grant and its implementation until it seemed to be a done deal. They think they should have been told when the school board was considering the grant, not just after it was received. Many parents fear that teaching Arabic culture is a way to sneak the study of Islam into their public schools when other religions cannot be taught there. Other parents believe this is a great opportunity for their children to be more culturally literate in a diverse world. Some of the Muslim parents felt it offered their children a chance to study their own culture.The image in this section is from pixabay. com

As you can see, not everyone agrees on the subject of mandatory study of Arabic in the Texas public schools. Four other school districts in the United States also received this grant. Perhaps something similar will arrive at a school district near you. How do you feel about this use of taxpayer money?

Some people believe the Arabic language and Islam are in separable and that you can't teach one without the other. The superintendent of the Mansfield ISD, Dr. Bob Morrison, states that Arabic culture as part of the study of Arabic language wouldn't have any more religion in it than the the study of Spanish language and culture, which is also a part of the curriculum.

I never took Spanish. I studied Latin and German instead, so I don't know how much religion is mixed into the cultural part of the study. In Latin, we studied classical, not church Latin. In German we read some paragraphs written by Martin Luther along with philosophers and poets, and some might consider that teaching Christianity. In studying the history of the world, we learned about the influences of both Christianity and Islam, because you cannot properly understand history without knowing how major religions have played a part in it.

This was different than teaching religious dogma, even though religious dogmas (and also politics) are what motivated the religious leaders to act as they did. Some may have used religion to gain and / or maintain political power in the way they led their people or country or empire.My view is that language and culture are two sides of the same coin. That will include some mention of religion. The question is how the people teaching the courses will treat the study of the religious aspects.

This is a controversial subject. I have read hundreds of comments on the news article. I commented on it and subscribed to the responses. I often do this and get a few emails back. I posted my comment early this morning before I went to bed, and woke up to over 626 emails in my in box. I was sure someone must have not filtered the spam out, but all the comments were actual opinions. Some felt it was wonderful to prepare enough speakers of Arabic to meet the needs of the government for translators and military intelligence. Others felt the study of no language, no matter how useful, should be mandatory except English in American public schools. Many thought this grant was a way to sneak the teaching of Islam into the curriculum as a step down the slippery slope to adopting or tolerating Sharia law in the United States, in spite of Constitutional protection. As you can imagine, there were many variations of these arguments stated in the so far over 800 emails I have received on this topic. I'm more interested in what you think.

This video reports on the reactions of some parents of students at the schools that would be affected by the new Arabic curriculum.

You can express opinions on any aspect of this subject -- whether the federal government should be using tax dollars for this, whether it's a guise for teaching Islam in America's schools, whether Arabic is a language of the future, whether we must mandate that more students speak and understand Arabic to compete in the world and acquire the translators and military intelligence people our government needs -- whatever.

I'm wondering what would have happened if studying German or Japanese had been a mandatory subject in an American public school in 1940. Is this a similar situation? Even though it was just reported that this new curriculum is on hold in Mansfield, if they don't use this federal grant money, it may be used in some other district, so this issue is still worthy of discussion. Four other districts have also received this grant money.

Should the study of Arabic language and culture be mandatory in any American public school? This article was transferred from Squidoo, where it was presented as duel. The format here doesn't support that same structure, so instead of being side by side, the opposing answers are on top of each other. Feel free to add to your side anyway.

The links below show that involved parents can do something to change a situation they don't like. During the hour I took a lunch break, things appear to have changed.

I'd appreciate your feedback on the importance of education about the Arabic speaking people. their language, and their culture, in American public schools. If you'd been a parent at one of the schools that was about to mandate students be taught the new social studies curriculum that included instruction in Arabic language and culture, how would you have reacted when you found it might not happen after all?