Mandatory Arabic classes in Mansfield schools! (middle school, homeowner, kindergarten)

[TXNGL]

Originally Posted by padcrasher

You wouldn't hear a peep out of 90% of those that would make a stink about this. Just like when the State mandate that education funds be spent on Bible instruction....nobody cared about that.

Well I did, but at the same time the classes were electives, so I didn't make quite as big of a stink. I understand what y'all are saying here, but mandatory Arabic classes just seems so random to me. I can't quite wrap my head around it.

[Vintage Life]

More thought on this, it is not a requirement for children that are elementary school age to take a foreign language in Texas. I feel this is very dibilitating to children here when other countries have classes in foreign language and they speak english. It is amazing how much a child can retain when taught foreign language early on and as we get older, it becomes harder. So for me, I see this as a nonsense when they can not even teach the basics of latin or any of the dominant romance languages of the world. We need to think globally so our children can have a competitive edge. As I said, I feel this is an agenda. That agenda, more money in the district.

[TXNGL]

Originally Posted by Vintage Life

More thought on this, it is not a requirement for children that are elementary school age to take a foreign language in Texas. I feel this is very dibilitating to children here when other countries have classes in foreign language and they speak english. It is amazing how much a child can retain when taught foreign language early on and as we get older, it becomes harder. So for me, I see this as a nonsense when they can not even teach the basics of latin or any of the dominant romance languages of the world. We need to think globally so our children can have a competitive edge. As I said, I feel this is an agenda. That agenda, more money in the district.

Agreed. I think elementary kids should be learning a second language, but in Texas they can't even take Spanish at the elementary level, why Arabic? I'm all for special grants. I'd be very pleased to hear of schools getting grants for more intensive science, for example, so we can get our kids up to the same level as other first world countries. This just seems like a waste of money and resources when we are lacking so much in the basics.

[loves2read]

the elementary classes have Arabic culture/history included in their instructional materials and when they go to jr high and high school have Arabic as option foreign language--
parents on the news tonight were NOT happy and think the district is having to backtrack about how it will earn this Federal money--
frankly it was an end run around the govenor's refusal to accept Fed money for education and promise to keep it ONLY for education suppliment to Tx budget--
he wanted to pool the Fed ed grants into general budget and smooth over our deficit--
but Dept of Ed would not roll over for him twice
that is where he got the money to balance the last budget...
Mansfield just thought it would take the money pay lip service for the first two years and then not have enough kids to actually take the language classes to hire Arabic teachers...

[verybadgnome]

Looks like Arabic is the 5th or 6th most widely spoken language in the world depending on your source:

Most Widely Spoken Languages

It has as many speakers as German and French combined.

Regarding Spanish I'm also worried about the implications of saying that it should be mandatory in relation to the great number of people residing in Texas who refuse to learn English.

[stillkit]

The Mansfield ISD denies that it was ever intended to be mandatory:

Arabic Language Studies Statement | Mansfield ISD Communications

[doctorjef]

During my school years, including high school in Texas, the usual public school language options would be French, Spanish, German and Latin. Today, from a purely utilitarian standpoint, it would seem that the sensible language options would be Spanish, Chinese and Arabic (Latin obviously is in a class of its own -- I tend to think it should be offered as an elective college prep subject and not allowed in fulfillment of any foreign language requirement). The fact is that with the rise of English as the lingua franca of international communication, and especially as the common language in Europe, there's little need for other European languages to be taught in public schools, with Spanish being an exception due to its prominence in the Americas. French, German and Italian are useful primarily in terms of their historic roles in Western literature and culture, but in that sense have a role rather like that of Latin or classical Greek -- more for advanced students with high academic ambitions for university-level study in the humanities.

[Ketabcha]

I don't believe that Arabic should be mandatory but I do think it can open all kinds of opportunities to those who speak it.

We do have to be very careful in not cementing the ethnocentrisim that we Americans are known for. Studying the culture of the Native Americans is excellent and interesting but studying the cultures of folks all around the world is also interesting and eye-opening.

IMO, Latin is the most useful because those wonderful Latin word roots open the door to understanding more English along with Spanish, French, Italian....all the Romance Languages that are all Latin based.

I would want the opportunity to decide which language my child studied.
"Mandatory" just rubs me the wrong way. Child of the 60s and all that....

[Bideshi]

Originally Posted by Ketabcha

I don't believe that Arabic should be mandatory but I do think it can open all kinds of opportunities to those who speak it.

I speak a smattering of Arabic from my years in Saudi, but I can't think of much use for it. I think Hindi or Mandarin would be much more useful today.

[doctorjef]

Hindi is spoken by a large number of people, although of course there are many regional languages in India. The thing about Hindi, however, is that English has an official status in India due to the long period of the British Raj, and is spoken fluently by all highly educated Indians, many of whom will have grown up with English as a first language.