So again its not so bad to understand their language , they do ours
I never said it was a bad thing to learn another language. What I'm more concerned with is the fact that they are being FORCED to take these language classes. If it was at the students discretion whether or not they took that class than so be it.
Maybe I missed something, but when I read the linked article I saw no indication whatsoever that anyone was being forced to take these classes. The parents were up in arms because they were being offered at all.
Like so many internet stories, things often take legs an run off. Original story is that an Arabic language class is being offered to students - by the time the link is posted the 4th or 5th time the school district is forcing students to study Islam.
Or another real case where the real story was that a kid threw a frozen ham on a table of Islamic students at a cafeteria. By the time it had been reposted a few times the student was being punished for eating a ham sandwich in front of them.
It's not just one side that does it either. It's just the nature of how the rumor mill works. Regardless of which side is telling it, the truth is often just not good enough, and people get tempted to "adjust" it a little because it'll have so much more impact if I change just a little detail. What's the harm? People just don't realize that their detail getting twisted isn't the first time that's happened, and those cumulative twists start adding up.
That aside, whilst I don't really have any problem with them OFFERING Arabic classes, I do question the usefulness of such a class. IMHO, as noted elsewhere in the thread, as far as usefulness, Spanish is far more useful in today's world. Like it or not just about every country south of our border speaks it, and we will end up interacting with these people more and more as travel becomes easier.
I also think that just as a basis for understanding of many modern languages in general, many students would be well served by studying Latin.
