I like this proposal.

In all the uproar about preparing native Spanish speakers for an English-speaking culture, a different language question gets mostly the silent treatment. How can Houston's English speakers prepare for a world where Chinese and Arabic wield growing influence?

Chinese and Arabic both are notoriously hard to learn. But if knowing Chinese will open future economic doors, knowing Arabic may be crucial to make that future prosperous and peaceful both.

This year, New York took a decisive step to equip its students for the coming century. As Houston fights to convince students that school is relevant, it should follow New York's example by cultivating places for them to master Arabic.

Brooklyn's Khalil Gibran International Academy, for grades 6-12, will open its doors this September. The school will expose its sixth-graders, and ultimately all 600 pupils, to Middle Eastern culture, history and language.

Scrupulously, politics (apart from conflict resolution classes) will be excluded. Even so, by the time they graduate, the school's students will know enough Arabic to pursue training in diplomacy, international business and intelligence.

Americans, President Bush said last month, need such skills urgently. At the swearing-in of the new director of national intelligence, Bush charged the new spy chief with seeking more recruits with Arab language skills.

This proposal is dead on -- we should be teaching Arabic in our schools as a matter of national security. The Crusade Against Jihadi Terror is going to last a very long time, and we have few Arab speakers to translate needed intelligence material. This will enable us to "grow our own" Arabic speakers, and give us a leg-up in the national security area.

Posted by: Greg at 02:26 AM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
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