Do you know what is funny, I posted this because I KNEW you would say something exactly like this. You took it hook line and sinker. If schools WISH to teach arabic "language" that is fine, if they "WANT" to teach arabic culture that is okay as well. Make it an elective. Forcing it on people because of some stupid grant by a branch of the government that should have never been implemented in the first place is NOT the right way to go about it. Boy oh boy if vegas would lay odds on this stuff I'd never have to work again.
just meddling parents whose pussies hurt. maybe if they keep complaining they can get a class on "how to be a 6 yr old beauty queen" and "Some parents had concerns over religion. “The school doesn’t teach Christianity, so I don’t want them teaching Islam,” said parent Baron Kane."
Good Lord no, I was in a hurry when I posted that. If parents were allowed to set the curriculum who knows what we would end up with, carburetor repair, inner workings of A/C ducts, catfish bait production maybe? Point is, as mentioned above, something like this SHOULD be an elective should it not? Look, I will be the first to tell you that I wish I could speak more fluent French, not that b/s they speak across the pond, the kind the Cajuns speak. I have a friend that I grew up with and he would come to my house and just blah blah blah with my grandfather till the cows came home. PISSED ME OFF because I never knew what they were saying. Turns out Mike's grandparents didn't speak any English so he had no choice but to learn it and he did. In a way I feel cheated but it is equally my own fault. I had my chances to learn. I feel rewarded when I hear of new cajun artist carrying on the traditions of the music and the culture of South Louisiana because it is something worth preserving. To your argument of "We need people to be able to speak arabic" Yeah we have a DoD Lab near San Fran that holds classes year round for that. In my opinion it doesn't need to infiltrate our public school system when we as a country are lacking in math and science skills compared to other countries that don't have near the resources that we do. Can it amigo. It is a bullchit ploy and it should be snuffed out.
if the money was coming from the general fund, i agree with you, given schools are having to cut programs. but its not. it is a specific grant. its kinda like when i worked in arts education for the state, and we gave specific grants for using the arts in education. grant money is a big deal for schools. i keep going back to that, and mandatory. and i dont see mandatory in the article, which is good, because it shouldnt be. but as an elective, if it free's up money by allowing an elective based on a specific grant instead of using general funds which can be used elsewhere, such as core curriculum, is that not good?
"Mandrake, do you recall what Clemenceau once said about war? He said war was too important to be left to the generals. When he said that, 50 years ago, he might have been right. But today, war is too important to be left to politicians. They have neither the time, the training, nor the inclination for strategic thought. I can no longer sit back and allow Communist infiltration, Communist indoctrination, Communist subversion and the international Communist conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids."
