VIA 
Despite an angry outcry from far-right
protesters, Houston is embracing an Arabic immersion school that educators hope
may give students an edge.
Except for
the angry protesters, the first day of school at the Arabic Immersion Magnet
School in Houston in late August was a joyous occasion. The school welcomed its
inaugural class of 88 kindergartners and 44 pre-kindergartners with an assembly
in the cafeteria.
The kids
wore their school uniforms, green-and-white polo shirts embossed with the
school’s calligraphic logo. They learned their new school song. They recited
the Pledge of Allegiance and the Texas Pledge. Alicia Kahn, whose 5-year-old
daughter Maiara attends the school, described the mood as “positive and
upbeat.” Outside, though, she said it was “mayhem.”
A small
crowd organized by the anti-immigrant group Stop the Magnet had gathered near
the school entrance for the “Houston Patriots Protest.” Waving signs and
American flags, the protesters shouted their message at entering parents.
“Forcing a child to have to speak Arabic should be against the law,” one
protester yelled at a woman pushing a stroller with a kindergarten-age kid in
tow. Another protester held a sign reading, “Everything I ever cared to know
about Islam was taught to me by Muslims on 9-11-2001.”
Parents
and faculty were not entirely surprised by the rude welcome. At a May 2015 HISD
board meeting, they got a dose of what some people think of the country’s first
public Arabic immersion school. It wasn’t pretty.
About a
dozen individuals took to the podium to give mini-lectures on the dangers of
Islam and the need to prioritize English-language education. “I’m a proud
monolingual American citizen,” said a middle-aged man, Phil Cady, reading a
prepared speech from his cellphone. “I believe it is wrong to teach babies
Arabic or any other language before their reading and writing in English is
proficient.” Elizabeth Theiss, founder of Stop the Magnet, directed her anger
at the board: “It’s a disgrace, all of you are anti-American.”
Though
the school, which plans to expand to fifth grade, hasn’t received any direct
threats, administrators aren’t taking any chances, employing a security guard
to keep watch during school hours.
Parents
are taken aback by the anger and the protesters’ apparent belief that the
school is part of an attempt to establish a “multicultural caliphate.”
“That is
one thing that’s scary,” said Kahn, “because you see these sort of American
fundamentalists who are very anti-anything that has anything to do with the Middle
East. … It’s really a shame that that needs to be a part of the conversation.”
But Kate
Adams, the principal of the Arabic Immersion Magnet School (AIMS), doesn’t
dwell on the vitriol.
“Anytime
you’re doing something that’s trailblazing and different” there will be
critics, she said. “Even in a regular plain-old vanilla school.” And AIMS is
anything but vanilla — something Houston has largely embraced.
The majority of students are
Texans with no ties to the Middle East or Arabic language. Read Full Article
