Manhattan, NY – An upper Manhattan public elementary school will be the first in the city to require that students study Arabic, officials said yesterday.
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Beginning next semester, all 200 second- through fifth-graders at PS 368 in Hamilton Heights will be taught the language twice a week for 45 minutes — putting it on equal footing with science and music courses.
One reason Principal Nicky Kram Rosen selected Arabic — as opposed to more common offerings, such as Spanish or French — is because it will help the school obtain a prestigious International Baccalaureate standing.
“Arabic has been identified as a critical-need language,” she said, citing students’ future “career trajectories.”
Simply Nuasiating
Arabic was required in the Orthodox day school I attended with my brothers and sister. The school’s administration and the parents believed that it would be necessary for the students to study Arabic in order to do business with the Arab neighbors of Israel. This was back in the late 60s and early 70s.
Of course the principal seems to be Jewish…