I think an Arabic language immersion school is a great idea, just as good an idea as a Spanish-language immersion school. (And any language immersion program includes culture in its curriculum.) Fact is, for peace or for war, this nation needs more people who can speak Arabic. We need those speakers in the State Department, in the FBI, in the CIA, in the military, and in business. It is a farking crime that the Bush administration hasn't been pushing for something like this at the national level. Kids who were in 9th grade on Sept. 11, 2001 are now juniors in college, and they have not been given any special encouragement to learn Arabic or other Asian languages.

In comparison, during WWII the need for Japanese language skills was recognized. Consider this memorial to an educator (pops) who instructed USN officers in Japanese during WWII:


Florence Walne Farquhar, 1895-1946

In the death on October 14, 1946, of Florence Walne Farquhar, Associate Professor of Japanese, the University of California lost the services of a distinguished leader in the field of Japanese studies and the nation, a devoted servant who sacrificed her life for her country in just as real a way as though she had been a soldier on the field of battle.

Florence Walne was born on August 19, 1895, at Arima, Japan, of a profoundly Christian family, the daughter of Ernest Nathan Walne and Claudia McCann Walne, missionaries to the Japanese. After graduation from Georgetown College, Kentucky, in 1916, she rejoined her family in Japan and for many years actively participated in the educational work of her father, as a teacher of English and editor.

She returned to this country in 1931 and for four years served as Assistant Director of the International House, Berkeley. In the execution of her duties in that position she manifested her rich knowledge of Oriental life and her sympathetic understanding of the problems faced by both students from Asia and by American students of Japanese extraction among whom she made numberless friends.
― [2] ―

A deep urge to do her part in building academic studies in the field of Japanese on a lasting foundation led her to undertake graduate work at Harvard University. In 1935 she received the degree of Master of Arts from Radcliffe College and in the same year she joined the Department of Oriental Languages as Lecturer in Japanese. She became Instructor in 1937, Assistant Professor in 1941, and Associate Professor in 1945. With great energy and perseverance Mrs. Farquhar labored not only to enlarge and systematize the University's offerings in the field, but also to broaden the public's understanding of the problems the nation faced in relation to Japan and other countries of the Pacific. Her perfect command of the vernacular, coupled with her patience and fact, enabled her to exercise a steadying and constructive influence on the life and activities of Japanese groups at the University and in the community at large.

Mrs. Farquhar's research studies toward the doctor's degree in Japanese literature, a field to which she wanted to devote her major efforts, were interrupted in the fall of 1941 when she answered the Navy Department's call for the organization of a Japanese Language School at Berkeley to be founded simultaneously with other schools projected elsewhere. In a few months the outstanding qualities of the Berkeley school under her directorship became so apparent that the entire Navy instruction program in Japanese was concentrated in her hands.
― [3] ―

In the words of Captain A. E. Hindmarsh, in charge of the Navy's program of language training, "she alone among the University teachers of Japanese in the summer of 1941, recognized the urgency, the practicability and the feasibility of doing the kind of job which eventually was done so well and to the tremendous advantage of the United States' effort in the Pacific Area."

In June, 1942, the evacuation of Japanese from the Pacific Coast necessitated the transfer of the School to the University of Colorado at Boulder. The number of students increased rapidly with the demands of the service and at one time in 1943 the size of the School reached an unprecedented figure of 125 teachers and 600 students. Also in 1943, courses in Russian, Mandarin, Amoy, Foochow, Cantonese, and Malay were added and the School was renamed the Navy School of Oriental Languages. Up to the time of its transfer to Washington in June, 1946, the School graduated over 1,000 Naval officers in these languages. From the very beginning of the program until September, 1944, when Mrs. Farquhar resigned because of ill health, she had carried the major portion of the administrative problems involved in maintaining the standards of instruction and the procurement and training of teachers who eventually included one hundred Chinese, Malay, and Russian instructors as well as the peak faculty of one hundred and twenty-five Japanese teachers. Many of the latter were selected by Mrs. Farquhar by visiting in person relocation camp areas.
― [4] ―

At the University of Colorado, Mrs. Farquhar held the position of Associate Professor and Director of the Japanese School and was advanced to the rank of full Professor in 1943.

With unswerving devotion Florence Walne Farquhar worked literally night and day to make the School a success. The weight of administrative duties did not prevent her, however, from taking unfailing interest in the personal life and problems of the staff and the students of the School. This interest extended to their subsequent careers as language officers and their postwar plans for scholastic or government careers. Her correspondence contains countless expressions of heartfelt appreciation on the part of her students for her understanding, guidance and encouragement to carry on in an undertaking of signal difficulty. A letter of commendation, signed by James Forrestal, Secretary of the Navy, noted the fact that the Navy School of Oriental Languages owed so much since its inception in September, 1941, to her "unfailing loyalty, energy and understanding," recognized her great contribution as, "the first civilian director of a school which has done so much for the war effort in training highly qualified language officers" and extended the Navy's congratulations on "a job well done."


(Only the parts in bold will be on the exam, kids.)

5000_gallons_of_toothpaste: If its an actual public school teaching the Koran, then there is a problem.

It's not. If it were, I'd be right there with you, as I would be if it was mandating a Bible-study class.

How much do you want to bet that the same people who will protest this also support the Texas Board Of Ed's idea to mandate Bible-study classes in its public schools?

5000_gallons_of_toothpaste: he article says its a Muslim school, but then states that it will have the exact same curriculum as other schools but require students to learn Arabic. If its just a public school that teaches Arabic, then no problem. If its an actual public school teaching the Koran, then there is a problem.

I was trying t understand the same thing. Is this an Arabic speaking school, a Muslim school, or are the two somehow synonymous?

It's not a Muslim school but the stupid hicks at ABC call it that in the headline, and in their comments section they invite readers to share their thoughts about a "Muslim school." Idiots.

FTFA: New York City has dozens of other dual-language schools that teach Spanish, French, Mandarin Chinese and Haitian Creole. None of them has generated even a fraction of the controversy that this Arabic school has.

I didn't see anything in the article saying this would be a "Muslim" school. The school is called Khalil Gibran International Academy. Wasn't Gibran a Lebanese Christian?

To be fair, the "intifada" shirts didn't make
the cause any more popular.

If they have the numbers, so be it. I'm also fine with all-Yiddish or all-Hebrew speaking schools too.

Addendum: As long as they have standardized, mandatory tests proving the children can speak English as well as they do in English speaking schools.

That is, v3ri b4dly nd in A0L sp54k. Lolz. Watz up?

the_cnidarian: Fabricated controversy (new window)

Wow, you chose Answers In Genesis to prove your point? Interesting.

Jon Snow: Preemptive *facepalm*.

I reserve the right to redeem "Preemptive *facepalm*" at any point in this thread, for reasons including but not limited to: ACLU is the suxorz; xenophobia; failure to RTFA; "glass parking lot"; the_gospel_of_thomas's alts; unrelated antisemitism because someone will bring up j00s, who are we kidding?; it's Wednesday; no longer acceptable to hate coloreds in public; cab driver spoke better English than me; failure to RTFT; the letter "G"; they gave dem towelheads footbaths in Michigan; appeasement of Hitler; cross-eyed Muslim d00d; Iranians speak or are Arabic; the quadratic equation; all I needed to know about Islam I learned on 9/11; small dick syndrome leading to violent condemnation of people I'll never interact with; and other *facepalm* worthy non-sequiturs.

Can someone email me the final tally of commenters who took the submitter's "New York City opens the nation's first all-Arabic speaking public school" headline at face value and didn't read the article? Great, thanks.

Not to mention, how many of you morons gushing over this to realize that you are supporting a MUSLIM (not simply 'Arab') public school? RTFA, idiots.

No, it is simply an Arab school. Don't believe whoever wrote what you read is any smarter than you, or you might look like an idiot.

No speakers of which crashed jets into the WTC, attacked the US Cole. etc. etc. and more etc.

No, they just come into our country illegally, wreck our spy planes, and force us to send troops to their country. Because we all know the language you speak dictates your actions... Retard.