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?