The choice
to eschew foreign-language study is not top-down; rather, it is cultural. We
believe another 9/11 looms large in the not-so-distant future, and this
paranoia moves from fear of people to fear of their language. Education Week reports that:
“In August
2015, residents protested at the new Arabic Immersion Magnet
School in Houston, denouncing
Arabic, Islam, and drawing ties to the Sept. 11 attacks.
One
protester's sign read: "Qatar out of our school," in reference to
Qatar Foundation International, a charity that plans to spends $2.5 million
this year to support Arabic language instruction in 25 K-12 schools in the United States, including the
Houston-based magnet school. The foundation's money helps fund Arabic classes
that reach about 2,400 students in eight states and the District of Columbia.”
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