Mandatory Arabic Classes Coming To Mansfield

[ag]

I'm not sure why you're personally attacking me.  I have zero problem with Arabic - or any other language - being taught in public schools.  I do have a problem with it being mandatory without any parental input or opt out.

Do you have a problem w/ any subject being mandatory? If no, why such an exception for Arabic (or a foreign language, as the case might be)?

[ag]

I'm not sure why you're personally attacking me.  I have zero problem with Arabic - or any other language - being taught in public schools.  I do have a problem with it being mandatory without any parental input or opt out.

Do you have a problem w/ any subject being mandatory? If no, why such an exception for Arabic (or a foreign language, as the case might be)?

This isn't math or English.  Assuming staffing is available, students and/or parents should be able to choose what (if any) second language to learn without some districtwide mandate from some bureaucrat on high.  For some students, learning proper Spanish might make more sense to learn, especially in a state like Texas - or French, or Chinese or Arabic or Latin or two of those or more or even none at all.

So, do I get it right: foreign languages should be optional. Ok. I also believe in choice. But I would, if I were on a university admissions committee also make a choice. Children of parents who think this way need only one university-level course: Advanced Burger Flipping.

[ag]

[Not everyone is fit for or goes to college.  

Ah, I got it. You just believe it should be decided who goes to college before junior high. I hope, you are not planning to decide that before the kids are born,  based on, say, ancestry, are you?

[ag]

You are a moderator here.  You should not be accusing people of being a racist.  Quite frankly, I'm sick of these personal attacks levied against anyone who doesn't follow the politically correct Atlasian views on social issues.

I am a moderator on the Economics board. You can be sure I will never take into account what I think of you when moderating your posts there - ask Carl Hayden or opebo. I find it mildly offensive when my ability to moderate impartially is questioned, but I am not willing to suspend my own judgements when posting as an individual.

[ag]

What are you talking about?  I said nothing about junior high or anything else.

And on the substance. The program in question, as far as I can understand, was for a junior high, or am I wrong? So, weren't you suggesting that students should decide that they don't go to college THAT early?

You know, after WWII they tried to explain to a Russian cleric (Archbishop Luka, I believe) that not all Communists were equally bad and that some of them were moral, patriotic people. But the cleric's response was not very politically correct. He said, in fact, that he was not a connoisseur of sh**t.  Neither, frankly, am I: I don't care what sort of nativism you preach, it stinks the same to me. It has nothing to do w/ political correctness - if we all agree to call your set of views "grrrrump", I'd hate grrrrump.
 

[ag]

[Not everyone is fit for or goes to college.  

Ah, I got it. You just believe it should be decided who goes to college before junior high. I hope, you are not planning to decide that before the kids are born,  based on, say, ancestry, are you?

Well hopefully we can genetically screen for intellectual capability in the womb..

Mandatory screening, I presume?

[ag]

Yeah, and, of course, you are welcome to hate my views and despise myself - I welcome that )

[ag]

You are also fundamentally misrepresenting my views on the initial issue to begin with.  To me, PARENTS are primarily responsible for raising their children, not the all-knowing, always correct nanny state, often personified in its worst form by the bureaucrats who run school districts.  If PARENTS object...

So, if I, as a parent, would object to my children learning English or math, why shouldn't I be allowed to opt out? If I expect my child to go to a university in Guatemala to study art, why do they need either?

Once again: why such an exception for a foreign language. Why is it that one size fits all elsewhere?

[ag]

 Your rational basis for opting out of learning English or math is what, exactly?  

It is exactly the same as your "rational basis" for opting out of any other language: I don't see any (except, possibly, xenophobia, in your case).

[ag]

In the US educational system. Foreign language is an optional elective, often with a choice of 3-4.

To the best of my knowledge, US does not have a single educational system, it's regulated, mostly, at a district and/or state level.;

[ag]

My supposed xenophobia is obviously the answer.   Because wanting more choice isn't politically correct, and anyone who opposes the education bureaucrats one-size-fits-all agenda is a racist.

Once again, to be clear. I don't the f.ck care about political correctness. But I sincerely hate nativists of all colors anywhere in the world, without prejudice to their color, creed or anything else about them. If you don't like calling your views racist, call them Humanitarian. In that case, I will hate Humanitarianism.