Arab-American Magnet School Opens in New York City
- Apr 17, 2007 - 3
This fall, Khalil Gibran International Academy will make its debut as the first public school in New York City dedicated to teaching the Arabic language and culture.
According to the NYC Department of Education, Khalil Gibran will be one of 40 new schools scheduled to open during the 2007-08 school year. New York City public schools already include a vast number of specialty schools with focuses ranging from performing arts, aerospace, sports professions, culinary arts, and social justice, among others.
While the majority of students at Khalil Gibran are expected to be Arab, the school is hoping to gain popularity among non-Arab students as well.
The principal, Debbie Almontaser, a Muslim of Yemeni background, explained, “I see students who are excited about engaging in international careers, international affairs, wanting to come to our school. And I also see Arab-American students who would want the opportunity to learn Arabic, to read it and write it and have a better understanding of where their ancestors have come from.”
According to Almontaser, the school’s ultimate goal is to help curb the stereotypes of Arabs and Muslims that have heightened as a result of 9/11. “[Khalil Gibran] is going to be working quite hard in building bridges of understanding, tolerance and acceptance, and valuing diversity and truly just developing students into global citizens,” she explained.
Since the DOE announced the school’s opening in February, concerns about a Middle Eastern-focused public school have quickly spread across the country. The department, however, has assured the public that students will be taught only about Arabic language and culture, and not about politics or religious ideas. “It’s going to be exactly like all the schools in the city, the same curriculum,” said Lena Alhusseini, the director of the Arab-American Family Support Center who helped design the school.
Despite these promises, many Americans still have their doubts. “There is very little reason to believe that politics and ideology can be kept out of Middle Eastern studies, especially in an educational establishment in love with the ideology of multiculturalism … And especially when one looks at the lineup of organizations responsible for the school’s design: the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, the Salaam Club of New York, and the Arab American Support Center of Brooklyn, all committed advocates for their own culture,” explained journalist Lisa Schiffren in Commentary Magazine.
Many fear this type of education may lead to security risks for America, which happened under similar circumstances in England, where there are a number of similar government-sponsored schools. Many of the schools have graduates who reportedly have become Islamic terrorists in their country and across the world.
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3 comments (post your own) feed
1 On Apr 17th, 2007, at 4:23pm, Dena Palmer wrote:
I think this idea of opening an Arabic school
is way out-of-line with our taxpaying right. We
should not be required to support this school anymore than we support “Christian” schools where the Bible is taught. The American ignorance about Islam is appalling. We are feeding our tax money right into the hands of Islam. Just look at their history of takeover.
England, France, Canada, Labonan, etc. I am
writing letters protesting the establishment of this school. It is opening the door to a quick
fuse to our destruction. I spent 2002 studying
Islam and it is not a peaceful religion. By their own admission, their goal to take over
The United States.
2 On Apr 17th, 2007, at 5:57pm, Jim Carpenter wrote:
Islam is their language and culture as well as their politics and religion. No one who has even an inkling about Sharia knows that there are absolutely no boundaries between the disciplines in their militantly exclusivist countries, yet they are given a pass in the name of “tolerance” which is not in their vocabulary. Mohammad’s violent and anti-christian teachings are the bedrock of their culture, but don’t even mention Jesus of Nazareth in a public (government) school.
3 On Apr 19th, 2007, at 1:03am, steve wrote:
Dena, Jim, I have no doubt that much of what you say is true - to a point. Yes I think Moslems would love to claim the US as its own, the problem is some Christians have already staked a claim. In fact look at the Vision Statement of the ERLC: “An American society that affirms and practices Judeo-Christian values rooted in biblical authority”. How can such a dichotomy ever lead to something good?
The fact is it isn’t Islam or Christianity or Buddhism etc that is the root of the problem - it is religion!
I know it won’t happen in my lifetime but I feel confident there will come a day when all our cathedrals, mosques and synagogues will become museums dedicated to the days when people felt they needed supernatural succour. A bit like the pyramids.