MANSFIELD (CBSDFW.COM) – Some Students at Mansfield ISD schools could soon be learning Arabic as a required language. The school district wants students at select schools to take Arabic language and culture classes as part of a federally funded grant.
The Foreign Language Assistance Program (FLAP) grant was awarded to Mansfield ISD last summer by the U.S. Department of Education.
As part of the five-year $1.3 million grant, Arabic classes would be mandatory at Cross Timbers Intermediate School and Kenneth Davis Elementary School. The program would also be optional for students at T. A. Howard Middle School and Summit High School.
Parents at Cross Timbers say they were caught off-guard by the program, and were surprised the district only told them about it in a meeting Monday night between parents and Mansfield ISD Superintendent Bob Morrison.
The DOE has identified Arabic as a ‘language of the future.’ But parent Joseph Balson was frustrated by the past. “Why are we just now finding out about it?” asked Balson. “It’s them (Mansfield ISD) applying for the grant, getting it approved and them now saying they’ll go back and change it only when they were caught trying to implement this plan without parents knowing about it.”
Trisha Savage thinks it will offer a well-rounded education. “I think its a great opportunity that will open doors. We need to think globally and act locally.”
Mansfield ISD says in addition to language, the grant provides culture, government, art, traditions and history as part of the curriculum.
Some parents had concerns over religion. “The school doesn’t teach Christianity, so I don’t want them teaching Islam,” said parent Baron Kane. During Monday’s meeting Morrison stressed the curriculum would not be about religion, but about Arabic language and culture, similar to the Spanish curriculum already in place in the district.
Kheirieh Hannun was born in the Middle East but raised in the U.S. She believes giving students the option to learn Arabic will give her son and others like him the option to learn more about their culture. “It was surprising, but I think it’s okay, and it will help come down on the stereotype.” Hannun says she is hopeful the class could broaden the minds of not only students, but also parents.
The FLAP grant was awarded to only five school districts across the country, including Mansfield.
7 comments:
I think that's a really cool idea, but they aren't that big of a world power yet are they? I mean if we are supposed to learn a global language then shouldn't it be like Chinese? China is rapidly growing in economic stability and military power. And the concern about the Islamic religion is STUPID!! What happened to tolerance of religion or freedom of religion? I don't know. I wish that our school had something like that, but sadly they do not.
Learning a new language is not bad to begin with but making it mandatory to learn is another. I know American's in general have the stereotype about Arabs being..."not very nice." Peace the middle east. Overall I dont blame parents getting mad over this sudden change in mansfield ISD. Arabic becoming the language of the future? If they are so worried about the future mabe they should be learning chinese of japanese. Countries that are becoming more industly advance than us. Its where the money is at in language thats all. Besides the fact about parents getting mad about teachers teaching them about another religion is not THAT big of a deal. They are mearly going to teach it. Not preach it.
I think this is a weird and different idea, but it could be good. It could confuse the students and be harder to learn if they start teaching it to them when they are in elementary school. They should wait until they are in junior or even high school. It is a good way for students to be culturally diverse and learn things they never knew.
How many students actually use or understand the languages already taught in school? Make it an option, but when you force the students to take this language, it denies them their opportunity to pursue other languages, as well as from studying something useful. It pains me to hear they decided to spend their grant money on this as a move to appear more "culturally diverse." We still have kids in our schools who believe that the earth is 6,000 years old, it would be smarter to invest in math and science in order to not be left in the dark ages in these fields compared to the rest of the world.
I think that the idea of inputting this new idea is strange and random, but could be an important way of teaching Americans a new culture. It could possibly cause students to be more open to foreign ways, and more accepting of students not from the United States. One thing that confuses me is the amount of money put into it. I don't think that so much should be put towards it.
Reading this article I cant seem to dicide whether it is a bad or good idea to teach children Arabic in school. I mean it is odd, because last time I checked Spanish was the 2nd most used language in the united states, and you dont here of many schools forcing students to learn spanish. I could see that being more understandable; even french or maybe korean being more understandable and less suprising. Though I believe if the children are simply being taught the language so they know it, I dont see much of a problem in it. I do however believe the childre/their parents should get the choice on whether they learn the language or not, and they should include more lanuage choices to choose from for the children to learn.
My family has always told me that the more languages you knew, the more successful you would be. So with that said, I think that teaching another language is a great idea! Just because they learn the language, doesn't mean that they will be exposed to the religion of the language. Maybe the religion has a little to do with how the language was created but, learning a language does not mean you are learning a different religion. It would be like saying since I know Spanish, that I'm Catholic. (I'm not Catholic)
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