In late February, CBS Dallas reported that Mansfield ISD, located south of Forth Worth, was going to implement mandatory Arabic classes which received strong public reactions on the national level. The program was in accordance with a 1.3 million dollar government grant to help develop foreign language skills because, according to them, Arabic is one of the “languages of the future”.
While Mansfield ISD has issued a press release saying they would be optional, the question of whether or not a particular language, especially Arabic, should be a required part of a curriculum has been debated heavily in the national media.
Parents have a right to be mad about the idea of mandatory foreign language classes, which many people support. If a foreign language is an optional high school elective there isn’t a problem, but if it is a requirement for students, especially students kindergarten through sixth grade, then there is cause for concern.
Students and, more importantly, parents should choose what students are taught outside of the basic math, English, and science classes.
One of the main problems with making Arabic classes mandatory is whether or not it will be essential knowledge for a majority of the students. According to the state department Arabic is a “language of the future”, but it is doubtful if any of the students attending these schools will have use for it.
This would be implemented in a public school where not everyone will graduate high school, let alone attend college. Even for the people that do go on to college and graduate it is unlikely that they would have a job that entailed them speaking Arabic on a regular basis.
While it’s definitely true that many of America’s future workers will have to go around the world to do business, a majority of these locations will not be Arabic speaking places.
The largest economy in the Arabic world is Saudi Arabia where oil revenues represent over 90% of the exports of this country and 75% of the government revenues. The students may need this knowledge if they worked for an oil company; but, even then, it wouldn’t be necessary for a majority of the workers.
Foreign language shouldn’t be mandatory, but if any language is required then it should at least be a more relevant language for the American workforce.
The emerging and established global markets are in Western Europe and Eastern Asia making languages such as Chinese (largest Asian economy), German (largest European economy), and the other languages of these regions far more important to a global worker than Arabic.
Another argument in favor of creating a mandatory Arabic program is that learning the language and culture would help to stop hatred against Arab immigrants and their US-born descendants. While it is true that hate crimes against Arabs rose to all-time highs after the 9/11 attacks, it has since plummeted (down from 546 incidents in 2001 to 132 incidents in 2009) and is definitely not a major problem as far as the current state of race/religious relations in the US.
The main concern is that currently there is rampant “Islamophobia” in the US. Islam originates on the Arabian Peninsula and is the religion of a majority of Arabs. While it is definitely true that there is hate towards them in the US, the idea that it is the most problematic religious hatred, or is even rampant, is a vast misconception.
According to a 2009 FBI report only 8.4% of religiously motivated hate crimes were against Muslims living in the US (6.7% were against Christians, 71.9% were against Jews, and the other 8.3% were against the other religions and atheists).
Looking at these numbers we see that there not only isn’t a major problem with hatred against Muslims, but that they aren’t even close to being the most persecuted religious group in America.
I think schools should have classes on occasion that teach about religious/racial hate (of all religions not just Islam) but mandatory language classes every day for six years is a bit too much, especially when its focused on only one religion which is a victim of less than 10% of religious hate crimes.
These factors show why it makes more sense to make language a higher level elective. If a high school student at this school knows he wants to do work which involves Arabic then he can choose to take a class which will teach him Arabic. This makes a lot more sense than making every single student take it when a majority of them will never use it in their lives.
Legacy Comments
These comments were imported from our old comments systemI disagree with much of this article, but I will limit my criticism to your argument that anti-Muslim sentiments are not a major problem in the United States.
You cite the statistic that 8.6% of the religious-motivated hate crimes were against Muslims as evidence that there is not a significant race/religious problem with Muslims in this country. The American Muslim population is generally estimated to be between 0.4% (American Religious Identification Survey, 2008) and 2.3% (Council on American-Islamic Relations, 2010). That means that violence against Muslims is between four to twenty times greater than what one would expect based on their composition of the American people. So while 8.6% might not be a large percentage, it is quite large relative to the population of the group which is the recipient of the violence.
More anecdotally, where were you during the Ground Zero uproar? Or the numerous similar anti-Islam protests that have occurred throughout the country since then, most recently in the form of the Quran burning in Florida?
In anticipation of your “those are just isolated incidents” rebuttal, here is another statistic for you. Although Muslims make up approximately 2 percent of the United States population, they accounted for about one-quarter of the 3,386 religious discrimination claims filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in 2009. This number is 20 percent higher than the same figure in 2008 and up nearly 60 percent from 2005. So much for the “things were bad after 9/11 but everything is cool now” characterization.
I could keep going with both statistical and anecdotal evidence, but suffice to say your "anti-Muslim prejudice is no biggie" argument completely underwhelmed me. I wish you had left it out, because you have a defensible position about the desirability mandatory Arabic classes. Why you felt the need to throw in “Islamophobia is overblown” is beyond me, but it definitely weakens the overall piece.
Sources:
http://livinginliminality.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/aris_report_2008.pdf
http://www.cair.com/AboutIslam/IslamBasics.aspx
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/24/business/24muslim.html
Those incidents you mentioned are part of the 8.4% i never denied there wasn't hate against them and even mentioned it i just said it wasnt bad enough to warrant mandatory classes about their culture. One of the two main arguments in favor of the classes was to stop hate against them so i dont see how exposing that hate against them has gone down and is a lot less than another religious group (Jewish) which represents about the same percentage of the population(and has no culture classes in public schools) weakens the article. These are FBI statistics you cannot deny them even though your friends at CAIR wants you to not trust them (lol see their propaganda in the second link).
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://radio.foxnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/CAIR-IMAGE.jpg&imgrefurl=http://radio.foxnews.com/2011/01/13/muslim-event-dont-talk-to-the-fbi/&usg=__CmP5P1FLFwQe2t_RwlIvi30AMzs=&h=450&w=359&sz=145&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=IhBrwE4gQRBH4M:&tbnh=147&tbnw=110&ei=vaSaTcWSBq-E0QGd3_3uBg&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcair%2Bdont%2Btalk%2Bto%2Bthe%2Bfbi%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26biw%3D1003%26bih%3D567%26tbm%3Disch&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=122&vpy=68&dur=681&hovh=251&hovw=200&tx=112&ty=134&oei=vaSaTcWSBq-E0QGd3_3uBg&page=1&ndsp=18&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://radio.foxnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/CAIR-IMAGE.jpg&imgrefurl=http://radio.foxnews.com/2011/01/13/muslim-event-dont-talk-to-the-fbi/&usg=__CmP5P1FLFwQe2t_RwlIvi30AMzs=&h=450&w=359&sz=145&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=IhBrwE4gQRBH4M:&tbnh=147&tbnw=110&ei=vaSaTcWSBq-E0QGd3_3uBg&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcair%2Bdont%2Btalk%2Bto%2Bthe%2Bfbi%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26biw%3D1003%26bih%3D567%26tbm%3Disch&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=122&vpy=68&dur=681&hovh=251&hovw=200&tx=112&ty=134&oei=vaSaTcWSBq-E0QGd3_3uBg&page=1&ndsp=18&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0
http://www.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/03/26/bennett.muslim.hearing/index.html
I'm not arguing that Arabic classes should be mandatory. As I indicated at the end of my comment, I am ambivalent about that. What I am arguing is that your statement "we see that there [] isn’t a major problem with hatred against Muslims" does not reflect the discrimination and prejudice many Muslim Americans face today.
Whether American Muslims are "the most hated" religious group is certainly debatable. The anti-semitic hate crime statistic is indeed quite troubling and I thank you for sharing it. Still, I don’t think it necessarily undermines my argument, particularly given the numerous forms of hatred, stereotyping, and discrimination that a group of people can face which do not fall under the narrow category of “hate crime.” Which, as a side note, goes to your comment claiming that my counter-arguments are already reflected in the FBI hate crime statistic. This is untrue. The incidents I mention (assuming you are referring to the employment statistic and the Ground Zero protests) are not hate crimes as defined by the FBI. So no, they are not reflected in the 8.4% hate crime statistic.
Regardless of whether they are “the most hated” or not, Muslim Americans do face significant obstacles in this country. I’m glad that the evidence suggests that the situation is improving, but so long as events like this occur, I remain skeptical of any “not a major problem” claims. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NutFkykjmbM
As an afterthought, I would add that I have no affiliation with CAIR, I just used their population statistic because it was the largest one I found, so it made for a good upper-bound on the estimate.
from my article:"While it is definitely true that there is hate towards them in the US". never said there wasn't any I only said it wasn't a big enough problem to go to drastic measures such as the proposed classes especially since there were no such classes proposed for groups which received more hate. Your right those incidents weren't included as hate crimes but i don't see how those events(people exercising their constitutional rights) harmed any Muslims or Muslim owned property. Whenever the pope comes to visits lots of people hold up signs with nasty things written on them i doubt you would consider that hate even though it is the same thing but with a different religion.
Again, my objection is to your statement, "we see that there [] isn’t a major problem with hatred against Muslims." I think it is a major problem. This is the disagreement we are having. Not whether the magnitude of the problem justifies mandatory Arabic language classes. I am not taking that position.
Regarding the extent that Muslims are harmed by the examples I cited, the employment discrimination issue is definitely harmful for those being discriminated against. Regarding the protests and that exercise of free speech, it can be harmful speech while still being protected. We protect a lot of speech which is harmful. The recent Supreme Court case involving the Westboro Baptist protests is a great example of this. The video link I posted in my previous comment is a great example of speech which is, and ought to be, protected yet is quite hurtful for those at whom the speech is directed.
With the hypothetical involving the Pope's visit, depending on how nasty the things written on the signs and being chanted were, I absolutely would consider those hateful. Legal, yes. Hateful, also yes.
da na na na na na na na DOWER
I'm so glad that AMP allows me to comment without linking it to my real identity and facebook. Unlike certain other publications... Thanks AMP!
To dower: maybe I phrased it wrong you can say its a major problem but you can't say its the worst problem given the stats. As far as criticisms of Islam in the media if that counts as hate then Christianity is probably the most hated religion in America since it is critcised and mocked more than any other one. As far as the employment stats it is hard to tell how many of those are legitmate im sure some people really werent qualified or the best person for the job and then just shrugged it off as "they didn't hire me because im muslim" the hate crime stats which measures muslims or muslim owned property being harmed soley because of their religion appears to be the best gauge of who is persecuted the most.
While I'm sure some of the alleged discrimination against Muslims identified in the religious discrimination complaints was not valid, I see no reason to believe that this would be any more true for the Muslims than any other EEOC religious discrimination submitters.
The Villa Park Councilwoman in the video I posted yesterday described Islam as "pure unadulterated evil." She described the American Muslims participating in the charity event as terrorists and suggested her marine son ought to kill them. None of this was said in jest.
I know that this is only one example, but it is indicative of an attitude held by many misguided Americans.
If you can't distinguish between playful mocking intended to amuse and venomousness attacks intended to hurt or threaten, then there's no point continuing this discussion.
Yo Benji, I'm really happy for you, I'ma Let you finish, but Muslims in the middle east are some of the most discriminatory people of all time! Not just the middle east, but in all the muslim world. now, I have never been to these places, but the treatment of say... Christians or Jews in those countries are horridly barbaric and often deadly for the openly devout, which makes the american tendency for islamic paranoia to seem utterly tame.
not that I'm taking one side or the other, I've got my own views and biases... but now and for the last few hundred years, Christians did't and doesn't have international militant extremist groups that pledge to destroy America and infidels in general. Shit, the Jewish people are even more a victim in this because they had to put up with everyone's crap for years.
Problem is, Islam in general has people scared, and it's no idle threat. If it was only a small extremist sect then perhaps it could be written off as an exception, but the number of Islamic militants number in the thousands. They're no inconsequential group. We can't forget 9/11 because it's so rare for an attack to reach our shores, and they are very committed to killing a great number of us by any and all means possible.
Then America catches a bunch a flak for islamophobia. Because if we stopped fearing the extremist groups so much they'll totally leave us alone. yep.
So... your argument is that because religious minorities are treated badly in Saudi Arabia, we should treat our religious minorities the same way? Or at least, not condemn those that think we should.
Islamic extremists number "n the thousands" you say. Out of a Muslim population of over one billion. Let's say there are 10,000 Islamic extremists planning to attack America. Out of a population of one billion, that means 0.001% of the Muslim population is dangerous. And the vast majority of the extremists aren't American citizens, which is the group suffering the discriminatory, hateful treatment here. So that percentage should be even smaller.
And because a few thousand radical Muslims are legitimately dangerous, out of a population of over a billion, Islamphobia is not a great problem.
*Blink blink.*
Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.
It's really not the greatest problem. But it wouldn't exist if Islamic extremists weren't so adept at causing grief.
to ben: "I see no reason to believe that this would be any more true for the Muslims than any other EEOC religious discrimination submitters" your exactly right those stats are horrible on measuring true hate and discriminatation since most of them are unprovable.
that woman probably does hate muslims whats your point thats one person theres plently of atheist liberals that say just as bad things about christians but i dont go around saying christian hate is the worst problem in the country(which is what some people have been saying about muslims like the Soledad Obrien's special on CNN a few weeks ago).
again actual harm to a person or there property soley because of there relgious belief is the best gauge of who has it worst if we're looking at what religion is criticisted the most by people Christianity is the most criticised(even public schools criticise it).
To mighty: your exactly right and I couldnt agree with you more
to tit-for-tat: your fucking delusional if its only a small small percentage and all the other ones are completely appauled then why is there so many incidents and better yet why is there not more of them standing up to it in the countries in which they are a majority.
http://www.fides.org/aree/news/newsdet.php?idnews=28732&lan=eng
saudi-arabia-christian-man-jailed-faces-death-penalty-for-sharing-his-faith-with-muslims
http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Two-Christians-gunned-down-by-armed-Muslims-outside-Church-in-Pakistan-21097.html
these are just a few incidents from the past month i could list a lot more. despite these things happening i have yet to hear out cry from the muslim community or the liberal media. the worst thing i heard about muslims in america was someone writing "not welcome" on a mosque sign in Tennesse and they got an hour long special on cnn about how horrible the hate is against them.
your right that doesnt give us permission to treat them badly (although not even remotely as bad as these incidents ive never heard of muslims being gunned down after leaving a mosque in america or one being jailed for preaching islam) but it is definantly the pot calling the kettle black as seen from the facts in my article and listed above when they complain about islamaphobia.
Islam at its core is a peaceful religion. There are those who do bad things with it (blow up people) and dictatorial regimes who invoke its name to further their oppression. However, Muslim Americans should not have to apologize for the behaviors of these groups, much as I don't have to apologize for the terrorist actions of the IRA simply because I am a Catholic.
http://www.sptimes.com/2005/07/29/Worldandnation/Fatwa_issued_against_.shtml
http://www.cair.com/americanmuslims/antiterrorism.aspx
http://www.theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/cair_repudiates_anwar_al_awlakis_praise_for_fort_hood_shooter/
to offered without comment: lol dont waste my time refrencing those scumbags at CAIR http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/01/30/fbi-cuts-ties-cair-following-terror-financing-trial/
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://radio.foxnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/CAIR-IMAGE.jpg&imgrefurl=http://radio.foxnews.com/2011/01/13/muslim-event-dont-talk-to-the-fbi/&usg=__CmP5P1FLFwQe2t_RwlIvi30AMzs=&h=450&w=359&sz=145&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=IhBrwE4gQRBH4M:&tbnh=147&tbnw=110&ei=vaSaTcWSBq-E0QGd3_3uBg&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcair%2Bdont%2Btalk%2Bto%2Bthe%2Bfbi%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26biw%3D1003%26bih%3D567%26tbm%3Disch&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=122&vpy=68&dur=681&hovh=251&hovw=200&tx=112&ty=134&oei=vaSaTcWSBq-E0QGd3_3uBg&page=1&ndsp=18&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0
its a shame to legitmate muslims who want to integrate that they are the premier muslim orgainzation in america they only add to the problem i think this one is much better suited
http://www.aifdemocracy.org/
to molly: i never said they had too but dont bitch about Islamaphobia unless your going to speak out against far worse and far more frequent incidents in muslim countries. during the ground zero mosque opposition i heard many muslims bitch about freedom of religion. one of my friends (who was pakistani) talked about how free america has suppose to be and criticised the opposition yet he never criticised the pakistani government for this(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blasphemy_law_in_Pakistan) or his fellow pakistanis for these things
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asia_Bibi
http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Two-Christians-gunned-down-by-armed-Muslims-outside-Church-in-Pakistan-21097.html
http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Third-church-attacked-as-Pakistani-extremists-declare-war-over-Florida-Koran-burning-21147.html
seems like a bit of a double standard
Actually, I do tend to agree with Molly, but one needs to ask why these radical groups are so popular among Islamics? It's because unlike Catholicism, Islam does not have a central authority to determine the true laws and literature of islam, leaving the Qur'an open to wildly varying interpretation and in doing so causing many insane radical sects with a thirst for blood to kill anyone for a little attention.
I agree that Americans shouldn't take it out on other Muslims. This is wrong. The problem is, like I said earlier, is that we're scared and untrusting, since we have no idea WHICH of these Muslims might be a radical extremist until intelligence catches up to him or somebody gets hurt.
i agree with molly too i was just trying to say you should care about bad things that happen to all people not just people who are the same religion as you(not saying all muslims do this but ive meet a few who do).
to mighty: un fortunantly the extremist do not think it is up for interpretation which is why they not only lash out against non believers but against the different sects of their own religion.