TheCorinthian Posted February 8, 2011 Report Share Posted February 8, 2011 "...Since when is any language other than English MANDATORY in US schools?..." Been to California lately? English is really just a suggested language here. In that districts defense, if it is a grant... then they APPLIED for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hugh_Hoy Posted February 8, 2011 Report Share Posted February 8, 2011 Another great use of federal tax dollars. I can almost guarantee that if a local school district had to pay for it, it wouldn't have been initiated. HH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheCorinthian Posted February 8, 2011 Report Share Posted February 8, 2011 Well, it is also likely that the program is set up to pay for learning opportunities that a local system could just not get or other wise pay for. You see it for computer training all the time in the rural south. I dont think a language class in and of it self is a bad thing. Hell, I WISH my local school had a Thai class back when I was in school! Would anyone be pitching a fit is say they were teaching German or Italian? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuckwoww Posted February 8, 2011 Report Share Posted February 8, 2011 Arabic could be useful for things like enhanced interrogation too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheCorinthian Posted February 8, 2011 Report Share Posted February 8, 2011 And oil negotiations! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted February 9, 2011 Report Share Posted February 9, 2011 When I was a kid, we studied Spanish in New Mexico - since the state is officially bilingual. There was a reason for it, since I was actually a minority that close to the Mexican border (c. 20 miles). Louisiana kids study French, since that state is also bilingual. But historically and based on population, what reason is there for compulsary Arabic in Texas? I thought Spain expelled all of the Moors. p.s. Last time I was in Los Angeles, I felt like a tourist. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted February 9, 2011 Report Share Posted February 9, 2011 Well, it is also likely that the program is set up to pay for learning opportunities that a local system could just not get or other wise pay for. You see it for computer training all the time in the rural south. I dont think a language class in and of it self is a bad thing. Hell, I WISH my local school had a Thai class back when I was in school! [color:red]Would anyone be pitching a fit is say they were teaching German or Italian?[/[/color]quote] I'm all for studying foreign languages in school. I studied German, Spanish and Portuguese. But why the hell is it MANDATORY? Also, the way foreign languages were taught in my high school and my university was a waste of time - heavy on grammar and next to nothing conversational. We had a guy in my Peace Corps group who had studied one year of Thai at of U of Washington. He told us at the end of our second week of training in Thailand that we now knew as much Thai as he did. I wouldn't starve in a Spanish or German speaking country, could travel around and book a room. But I learnt that on my own - not in my language classes, where we had to do things like read Kafka in German. Hell, Kafka is hard enough to understand in translation. (At least thomas Mann was interesting.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheCorinthian Posted February 9, 2011 Report Share Posted February 9, 2011 You've been gong too long. A foreign language is manditory in just about all schools now.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Hippie Posted February 9, 2011 Report Share Posted February 9, 2011 We all sort of learned Spanish by default. The Arabic thing is ok if offered as an elective. Always good to know a second or more language...Arabic is practical. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Posted February 9, 2011 Report Share Posted February 9, 2011 I could be wrong on this and its only a guess but I think its a good guess obviously to post about it. The school district saw the money was available and took it. I think its more a commentary on how underfunded our schools are. With the exception of schools in areas with a lot of moslems like west Detroit (I think its west detroit?) I can't see many schools going out of their way to want Arabic. My guess is they are expecting to use some of that money for general school purposes. It seems a fairly large amount for just teaching arabic. A couple extra teachers perhaps or even a couple of their own to learn the basics to teach. Can't be over a million to do all that. So, my guess is they are expecting to use some of that money for their own. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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