First, the NY Post reports, Arabic mandatory at city public school:
An upper Manhattan public elementary school will be the first in the city to require that students study Arabic, officials said yesterday.
Beginning next semester, all 200 second- through fifth-graders at PS 368 in Hamilton Heights will be taught the language twice a week for 45 minutes — putting it on equal footing with science and music courses.
One reason Principal Nicky Kram Rosen selected Arabic — as opposed to more common offerings, such as Spanish or French — is because it will help the school obtain a prestigious International Baccalaureate standing.
My reaction: this sounds like the actions of a school with an advanced curriculum and that anything that advances multilingualism is a good thing.* Further, if the students do come out of school with a basis for becoming fluent in Arabic, it will greatly enhance their employment opportunities. Plus, learning another language is good for brain development.
But clearly I am some sort of crypto-terrorist (or perhaps just a commuinist). Just ask Andrea Ryan at Gateway Pundit:
Our “kids are like sponges”? Yes, they are. So, they should be taught about Western Civilization, and our heritage that is rooted in freedom, and individual value. But, that was removed from school curriculum long ago by the radical secular Progressives. Now, they want our children be able to read the Quran, listen to the draconian precepts of sharia, and watch Al Jazeera inveigh against Christianity, democracy, equality, and freedom in its native Arabic language. When Communism aimed its missiles and armies at our nation President Reagan didn’t fold and force our children to learn Russian.
Leave it to the Liberals to try to completely destroy all that is good about our culture and turn it into something distorted, ugly, and dangerous.
Because, you know, learning about foreigners is dangerous!
Pardon me while I go weep quietly in the corner…
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*As the joke goes: What do you call a person who speaks two languages? Well, “bilingual,” of course. How about someone who speak multiple languages? Easy, that’s “multilingual”! How about someone who speaks only one? “American.”
