DFW schools tries to ninja in mandatory Arab Language Requirements

[Major Robert Dump]

What were they thinking? Sometimes I will actually stand up in defense of the DOE and their cronies, but this is absurd.

http://dfw.cbslocal.com/2011/02/07/m...-to-mansfield/

1. Foreign language requirements are fine, but to make a specific language mandatory? I could see Spanish in Dallas, but Arabic, really?

2. Arabic is not the language of the future, that is a farce. The language of the future is Mandarin Chinese.

3. They claimed they would not be teaching religion, only language, culture and history, like they do in Spanish. Taking Catholicism out of Spanish culture and history would be a walk in the park compared to taking Islam out of Arab history. Islam is deeply, deeply rooted into the Arab world and any culture where the majority follows it. But while I believe it can certainly be taken out after great effort, to make a class MANDATORY will mean that students and parents alike will be looking for the school to take one little misstep and then Bang! here come the lawsuits and all the costs and distractions thereof.

So all these things considered, why not just make the class an elective from the get-go? I may have taken it if Chinese were not offered, because I want to work outside the US in any country that is not Mexico. Hell, I may have taken both Chinese and Arabic, that would have been awesome.

What do the folks OCONUS think about this? Is there a certain foreign language you have to take?
Would that not tick you off?

[Greyblades]

...Sure, why not, while we're at it lets also make it compulsory for american schools to teach russian.

This is a little confusing. Is arabic a frequently used language in mansfield? Are there arabian streetsigns?

[Centurion1]

stupid. its not even really an important language for the future as they seem to think. As you said Mandarin is more important or Indian. Hell in America spanish is more important especially in the southwest.

[Major Robert Dump]

Maybe it was a secret plot bythe CIA and DOD to increase the pool of candidates for recruitment to work in Arabic countries, since right now, according to my calculations, the number of people in the US Army who speak Arabic is 3.

Kind of a slap in the face to all the Spanish speakers tbh

[Tellos Athenaios]

We have a mandatory foreign language. It's called English, and it is IIRC taught from 7th year in primary school onwards. During the first 2 (in VMBO) or 3 (elsewhere) years of secondary school French will be compulsory. The 2nd and if outside of VMBO 3rd year will add German to this list. Then you get to drop subjects you've grown to dislike so you could in theory ditch French and German, but outside of VMBO at least you will be then required to pick a secondary foreign language at a minimum which typically ends up being either of them due to lack of options.

Though from 2nd year onwards some VWO [pre university] level schools will offer additionally the option to study classical Latin, ancient Greek or both, these are allowed; and some schools offer courses in Spanish (relatively recent), or Russian (somewhat longer around due to the Cold War creating a niche for Russian). Anyway any of those will typically do for the second foreign language requirement but again, commonly not available to pick.

... This gets even more complex because there's such a thing as profiles, and here's the rub: there's a “culture/language” profile which includes either one of French and German in addition to a 3rd foreign language as a requirement...

... And then you go on to university where you are simply expected to read anything the professor damn well pleases to make you. This means you often get away with just English, but for instance history folks won't. (I've seen some of these texts, and from the opaque German used inside it I got the impression that was a deliberate gotcha since any competent author writing in English would use much more accessible prose by definition.)

[Fragony]

Islamphilae, clear case.