View Single Post
Old 9th June 2019, 10:26 AM   #22
Ladewig
I lost an avatar bet.
 
Ladewig's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2001
Posts: 28,781
I had some fun researching this one. I found lots of info on message boards although I am having a hard time finding reliable Independent confirmation of these specific claims.

27 It was you who funded mandatory Arabic language and culture studies in Grammar schools across our country.


The grant money came from the Department of Education. As part of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, the Foreign Language Assistance Program (FLAP) was created to help primary and secondary schools teach foreign languages. Funding stopped in 2011.

Arabic was identified as a critical language by the Department or Education. (I think the military is still paying bonuses for Arabic translators).

A five-year $1.3 million grant was awarded to a school district in Arlington, Texas. The school requested the grant . President Obama did not personally authorize the funding.The program was never implemented. The program was not, as initially reported, required.

As other folks on the internet have pointed out
-Arabic is not a religion.
-If you think Islam is the enemy, then having American students learn Arabic is a good thing (imagine the advantages the US would have had if federal money had been available in the 1930s to teach German and Japanese to high school students)
-If you don’t think Islam is the enemy, then having American students learn Arabic is a good thing because international trade over the next 12 years will certainly require Arabic-speaking businesspeople, engineers, designers, etc.
__________________
I lost an avatar bet to Doghouse Reilly.

Last edited by Ladewig; 9th June 2019 at 10:30 AM.
Ladewig is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top