New York to Open First Arab Public High School

"Opening" this September in the "Big Apple" will be the first taxpayer funded Arab school. Enrollment from 500-600 sixth though twelfth graders will attend the school in which all classes will focus on Arab culture.



How this has not been on the news is beyond me, taxpayer funded school whose focus is the teaching of the Arabic culture.

What happened to English, American History are they now considered elective courses?

I could understand if it was a private school as we have many privately funded academies but using U.S. taxpayer funds to do this is appalling..

In another article says some funding will come from Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Related News Links:
Brooklyn to get first Arabic PS
New York City set to open Arabic public school
NYC public school will offer Arabic

EDIT:fix & add links





[edit on 2007/2/15 by JacKatMtn]

We have all types of Magnet Schools in NYC. Business, Stock Brokerage and lots of others. Many areas of Brooklyn are home to many Arab-Americans. Had I had this kind of choice when I was going to school I would have jumped on it. I never learned how to read or write in Arabic. The only options we had were Spanish, French and German as options for a second language. I think this is a great idea.

As an avid believer that you should know about the culture of the country in which you live, I think this is a great step into preparing people for jobs in countries who are primarily Arabic. It opens up great possibilities for the children of the future.

I was lucky enough to get an advance copy of the curriculum offered by this prestigous school. It's actually very interesting. The standard curriculum includes pointing your finger every time you speak, how to find an American flag in even the biggest enemy country of the US, and how to pretend not to speak english.

Some of the elective courses offered are:

The proper use of box cutters.

Proper etiquette for flag burning.

Anger management (How to get outraged at everything).

What is the proper time to get up and make the donuts.

How to properly behead an adversary - taught by special student teacher OJ Simpson.

How to effectively identify Air Marshalls in flight.

Also offered are specialized industrial arts classes as well, complete with fully functional metal shop, wood shop, automotive shop, and kitchen.
Some of these specialized classes include.

Building a cockpit door using actual engineering diagrams from present day aviation construction engineers.

Retrofitting any car to house alternative "fuels".

Man! What a great idea! I bet New Yorkers are gonna love this place and be so kindhearted towards it!

Originally posted by lombozo

I was lucky enough to get an advance copy of the curriculum offered by this prestigous school. It's actually very interesting. The standard curriculum includes pointing your finger every time you speak, how to find an American flag in even the biggest enemy country of the US, and how to pretend not to speak english.

Too bad they didn't have something like this down at the trailer park you might have learned something.

As long as the kids are still in standard American education for K-5, and unless they attempt to undermine the indoctrination the kids received in the ealier grades, I doubt this will be a problem.

It's the removal of indoctrination that should not be allowed. Kids should be saying the pledge of allegiance and learning about democracy in the early years of education. Its the fundamental construction of a citizen.

Its a public school. It has some courses on the arabic language and on arabic history.

Whats the problem here?

I grew up in Brooklyn, in between a large population of Hasidic Jews, Arabs, West Indians, Puerto Ricans and every other culture under the sun. Even though our school was in predominantly Italian neighborhood at the time (Bensonhurst) we had clubs and groups within that catered to every culture represented. We had our issues, aka the Yusef Hawkins murder that showed that racism was present in the area, but since then there was concerted effort to aggregate all the cultures and races in the school and imo it worked.

Now with a school catering solely to one culture, I fear that city has unconsciously sanctioned a more segregated school system and that this will do more harm than good to the wide variety of cultures represented in the NY school systems.

I would have no problem if it was privately funded school. The Hasidic Jewish community has large school facilities in which they teach in their language and about their culture etc, however I don't believe those schools are completely publically funded. Islamic leaders should have the rights to do exactly the same, but Taxpayer money shouldn't be use, the Arabic community is quite capable of raising its own funds for specialized schools.


[edit on 2-16-2007 by worldwatcher]

I think it's a great idea. It's not limited to only Arabs and it will give Americans a chance to learn a little something about the people they consider "terrorists." Americans need to learn more about culture, all cultures. Americans are so afraid of anything they think might threaten the American Dream.

Your tax dollars are paying for a lot worse then the education of our youth. How can you complain about something so beneficial. Your tax dollars pay for illegals on welfare. For drug users who don't want to work, for criminals to get a free ride. Think about the whole picture first, then you might realize how good this is

Just to add, if we ATSers are so sure that Bush plotted the takedown of the Towers then are we so against the Arabs in the first place.

I say way to go New York!

why does there have to be a specific school to open children's horizons and give them access to other languages and cultures?

why not just add new curriculum to existing public schools? Offer arabic in addition to Spanish, Italian and French.

How is this different from ESL (English as Second Language) type programs? ESL programs are in every school, why not just have a new ESL public school and offer more than just arabic?

You are correct on your idea, why couldn't they just add the program? That may be the real question here. Maybe the reason being is that they are teaching more than a language, rather a way of life.

Well first of all its not an Islamic school. The name of the School is Khalil Gibran School. He was a Lebanese artist/poet/author and was a Maronite Christian. Nothing about this school intones Islamic. It is supposed to be for children (No matter what nationality) which specializes in arabic language and culture. As I said we have Magnet schools here that specialize in something. We have dozens and dozens of schools that cater to the population surrounding them.


P.S. 124 Yung Wing School
The school is particularly skilled at teaching English to children who speak only Chinese at home. All teachers and support staff receive training in teaching English as a Second Language.
What's special: Gifted program; knack for teaching English to immigrant children


H.S. 430 Francis Lewis High School
foreign language instruction in French, Spanish, Chinese, Classical Greek, German, Italian, Hebrew, Japanese, Korean, and Latin
English as a Second Language: For select subjects, the school offers bilingual instruction in Chinese and Korean.



H.S. 415 Benjamin Cardozo High School
offers foreign language studies in French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Latin, Mandarin Chinese, and Spanish
English as a Second Language: For select subjects, the school offers bilingual classes in Korean and in Chinese


Brooklyn Academy High School
and the art instructor also teaches Hebrew -- a surprising choice for the school.


P.S. 380 John Wayne School
a bilingual Yiddish program for kids with special needs.
What's special: Bilingual Yiddish-English special education.


P.S. 182 Samantha Smith School

English as a Second Language: Four fulltime ESL teachers serve the school's 400 English language learners, most of whom speak Spanish, Bengali, Urdu, or Punjabi. One general education bilingual Spanish/English class is offered on each grade level except pre-K. Other children receive assistance in and out of their regular classes. At the time of our tour, Costa was attending a monthly, Columbia University Teachers College workshop on teaching English Language Learners.

ROSS Global Academy Charter School
The school was started by Courtney Ross, the multimillionaire widow of Time Warner chief Steven Ross and is "committed to transforming education for the 21st century," said Principal Mark English. This includes mandatory Chinese language classes for students of all grades and an emphasis on holistic lifestyles.


Sources:
www.insideschools.org...

Originally posted by worldwatcher
I grew up in Brooklyn, in between a large population of Hasidic Jews, Arabs, West Indians, Puerto Ricans and every other culture under the sun. Even though our school was in predominantly Italian neighborhood at the time (Bensonhurst) we had clubs and groups within that catered to every culture represented.

You may have gone to New Utrecht, I went to Fort Hamilton HS in the late 70's. Things are totally different now. My kid was diagnosed as being ADHD by the board of ed on the recommendation of a teacher he was referred to a specialized school. The Dept. Of Education was then responsible for his education and had to pay for his tuition in the specialized school which was all the way out in Queens and run by Franciscan Brothers (Catholic School). The tuition there was 20k+ per year. I guess they are finding it cheaper and more productive (Since the schools are overcrowded as it is) to build and to create specialized schools then to spend money on sending kids outside of the system which happens very often nowadays.

thanks for the info PieMan

In comparison to the Yung Wing school, I guess it can be compared as the same and then it seems harmless especially if the school is in a predominantly Arabic neighborhood.

FYI I have no problem with the name of the school or who they chose the name the school after.

However as you mentioned, schools like Francis Lewis and Cardoza offered a wide variety of languages and ESL in other languages, I see no reason why Arabic couldn't be integrated in the same way.

I guess I'm not sold on the full idea with the lack of information and various twists that being presented by the media on this story.
I just much rather that schools stay being a big melting pot revolving around the English language...but that's just me.

btw I went to FDR HS

Well that could be the prelude of the new wave of Iraqis immigrants that will be hitting the nation very soon.

Iraqis exiles are complaining that US is not giving them enough attention and rights to get into the US.

Many complain that Iraq is too dangerous for them and their families and that US is responsible for their safety.

Soooo we may have more schools opening around.

Originally posted by: JacKatMtn
How this has not been on the news is beyond me, taxpayer funded school whose focus is the teaching of the Arabic culture.

Just because they are Americans does not negate their background of Arabic culture. This would be like declaring that any magnet school anywhere that focuses on a certain aspect of a group is wrong. Why would you not want to focus on trying to educate a child in a manner that will balance them with their home culture, and their personal life culture so that they can function as everyday educated citizens?

I wrote this whole long post and then just lost it


so to abbreviate my lost thoughts...

culture is something learned at home, not in schools. My kids watch Bollywood, eat curry, speak West Indian patois as well as me, they know our cultural traditions such as touching their grandparents feet, or jamming to soca music at parties. I would never expect or want them to learn that from schools, because not everything in my culture do I want to them to carry on. I also don't expect my kids to learn Hindi in public school, if I want them to learn that, I'd send them to our local pundit at our local hindu temple.

I still think that schools should not cater to one culture over an other, schools should be melting pots and the focus should be on American culture and the english language. I think most current school systems do a good enough job of allowing cultural shows and clubs so that students can still retain or share their culture.

I really hate when I lose a post, the second never seems as good or makes the points the same way as the first

[edit on 2-16-2007 by worldwatcher]

Originally posted by Nygdan
Its a public school. It has some courses on the arabic language and on arabic history.

Whats the problem here?

If the courses were elective, then I might consider it, as long as there were courses in Asian, European, African, Hispanic, and any other culture.

Note the text that I have bolded and/or underlined:

The school will open in Brooklyn in September and will serve 500 to 600 students in grades six through 12. Half of the classes will actually be taught in Arabic and all courses will focus on the culture, which heavily features the religion of Islam.

Education officials say the school will be called the Khalil Gibran International Academy, named after a Lebanese-born Arab writer, painter and philosopher whose work is known around the world.

Although the campus has been named after a peaceful intellect who often wrote about love, there is concern about the actual curriculum since it will teach and promote the religion of Islam.

Where is the seperation of church and state here?

Originally posted by worldwatcher
I really hate when I lose a post, the second never seems as good or makes the points the same way as the first

[edit on 2-16-2007 by worldwatcher]

Take this from someone who has lost many a brilliant post: you gotta use Notepad or some other format to write your response.

Originally posted by jsobecky

Where is the seperation of church and state here?

Other then the source that you quoted which seems like more of a biased opinion and an uninformed one to boot (Since obviously we do have foreign language schools) , where does it say anything about Islam or religion mentioned in the other articles especially where the faculty is being directly interviewed?