More reason for there to be zero available slots at bilingual schools...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Useful is not subjective when it comes to languages. Just b/c there are people you work with who speak to others in Hebrew does not mean Hebrew will be useful for most people. By your logic why not have Hungarian, Korean, Albanian, Dutch... Immersion language schools in DC?

Most people in the US only use Hebrew in synagogue.

Would LOVE a Dutch immersion school in DC! What a great idea!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Useful is not subjective when it comes to languages. Just b/c there are people you work with who speak to others in Hebrew does not mean Hebrew will be useful for most people. By your logic why not have Hungarian, Korean, Albanian, Dutch... Immersion language schools in DC?

Most people in the US only use Hebrew in synagogue.

Would LOVE a Dutch immersion school in DC! What a great idea!

I would be in for Dutch, too- hartelijk bedankt!

[Anonymous]

So start a Dutch immersion charter. Nothing stopping you and it maybe as popular if not more than Hebrew

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So start a Dutch immersion charter. Nothing stopping you and it maybe as popular if not more than Hebrew

Exactly, although honesty, with all the DCUM nasties, it really makes you question whether to put in all of the blood, sweat, and tears to create a school when you have to deal with parents who pretty much have an Orwellian-esque "two minutes hate" on every new charter that pops us. I'm beginning to think the PP was right and we should just shut down all of the charters and go back to DCPS. Then all these entitled, not so closeted racists can go back to private school where they belong...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Usefulness is in the eye of the beholder. Clearly people wouldn't be going into Hebrew or Mandarin or Spanish or whatever if they didn't have some ideas about its usefulness.

I hope you're not this naive or this UNclear. People chosing SELA has more to do with there being nothing else available than Hebrew's usefulness. Believe me, if SELA was Spanish or Mandarin immersion, people would be tearing the hinges off the door to get it. People are SETTLING for SELA because they'd rather have this option than NOTHING. DENIAL from these SELA boosters is more than obnoxious- it's SAD!!!

I think there must be a twelve step program for this level of narcissism where you believe you have any insight into what other parents think when they fill out applications. Do you think people are settling for Sela in a way they are not settling for any other new school on the market when little Sienna or Jasper gets rejected by LAMB or Brent or wherever. Crack is whack.

Crack is whack... That's why you should stop smoking it while posting to this board. Now you've taken obnoxious SELA booster to a whole new level. Now it's obnoxious Sela crackhead! Way to go! Hope you're as crazy as it gets over there. Not likely. What's Hebrew for that? Never mind, 'cause nobody cares. Anybody know it in Spanish or Mandarin? Now we're listening!

Thank you for both making sense *and* making me laugh in one post!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are plenty of families who "settled" for LAMB, MV, YY, Stokes etc not b/c they have any interest or connection to Spanish, Mandarin, etc but b/c it was the best school option their child got into. There will be many families who "settle" for SELA for the same reason. unfortunately, Hebrew is a about as useful as Albanian, Tagalog, etc for most people.

- signed Mom of child at another immersion charter who has to learn Hebrew for his bar mizvah but have no interest in sending him to SELA.

There are certainly jobs out there where having some mastery of Chinese or Spanish gives a person an edge over the monolingual competition.

I don't see many opportunities for using Hebrew. Maybe to tutor bar/bat mitzvah students? Although presumably they are doing modern Hebrew immersion which might be different than the Hebrew taught in synagogue.

One of the more ignorant statements I have heard on this thread. Not a Hebrew speaker, but I can tell you that several of the scientists on my team at NIH are, and they do lots of research projects with counterparts in Israel and go back and forth in Hebrew. Israel, sadly, has a more sophisticated, and active scientific research community (thank you, Republicans!). Honestly, useful is subjective. I think we should just disband all charter schools and create magnate DCPS for MATH AND SCIENCE. No languages, no green-centered, no Afro-centered. Just math and science. That's what I define as useful.

Dear lovely scientist: may I inquire in what language do those same scientists publish their findings and disseminate them worldwide?

Not Hebrew

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So start a Dutch immersion charter. Nothing stopping you and it maybe as popular if not more than Hebrew

Exactly, although honesty, with all the DCUM nasties, it really makes you question whether to put in all of the blood, sweat, and tears to create a school when you have to deal with parents who pretty much have an Orwellian-esque "two minutes hate" on every new charter that pops us. I'm beginning to think the PP was right and we should just shut down all of the charters and go back to DCPS. Then all these entitled, not so closeted racists can go back to private school where they belong...

A Dutch bilingual charter would probably work as well as a Hebrew one...but most Dutch folks I know here have found way wiser ways to spend theirs and their kids' energies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So start a Dutch immersion charter. Nothing stopping you and it maybe as popular if not more than Hebrew

Exactly, although honesty, with all the DCUM nasties, it really makes you question whether to put in all of the blood, sweat, and tears to create a school when you have to deal with parents who pretty much have an Orwellian-esque "two minutes hate" on every new charter that pops us. I'm beginning to think the PP was right and we should just shut down all of the charters and go back to DCPS. Then all these entitled, not so closeted racists can go back to private school where they belong...

You live in a sad world if what happens on DCUM determines what happens in the real world. DCUM naysayers were out in force for many other charters, although it's ignorant and clueless to think everyone says "nay" for the same reasons. If DCUM skepticism/doomsaying determined outcomes, Yu Ying, LAMB and Mundo Verde wouldn't be here today for us to all be freaking out trying to get into.

Try to get out more. DCUM does not determine school success or failure. A lot of factors do, but DCUM Isn't that powerful.

That said, we do still get to voice opinions here and I don't get how Sela will attract or maintain non-Jewish critical mass. Unless they have endless resources for providing free before and aftercare.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are plenty of families who "settled" for LAMB, MV, YY, Stokes etc not b/c they have any interest or connection to Spanish, Mandarin, etc but b/c it was the best school option their child got into. There will be many families who "settle" for SELA for the same reason. unfortunately, Hebrew is a about as useful as Albanian, Tagalog, etc for most people.

- signed Mom of child at another immersion charter who has to learn Hebrew for his bar mizvah but have no interest in sending him to SELA.

There are certainly jobs out there where having some mastery of Chinese or Spanish gives a person an edge over the monolingual competition.

I don't see many opportunities for using Hebrew. Maybe to tutor bar/bat mitzvah students? Although presumably they are doing modern Hebrew immersion which might be different than the Hebrew taught in synagogue.

One of the more ignorant statements I have heard on this thread. Not a Hebrew speaker, but I can tell you that several of the scientists on my team at NIH are, and they do lots of research projects with counterparts in Israel and go back and forth in Hebrew. Israel, sadly, has a more sophisticated, and active scientific research community (thank you, Republicans!). Honestly, useful is subjective. I think we should just disband all charter schools and create magnate DCPS for MATH AND SCIENCE. No languages, no green-centered, no Afro-centered. Just math and science. That's what I define as useful.

Dear lovely scientist: may I inquire in what language do those same scientists publish their findings and disseminate them worldwide?

Not Hebrew

Actually, yes, publishing in Hebrew, German. Japanese, French, English, Swedish, Russian...and translating into several languages worldwide. But science is the true unifying language!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are plenty of families who "settled" for LAMB, MV, YY, Stokes etc not b/c they have any interest or connection to Spanish, Mandarin, etc but b/c it was the best school option their child got into. There will be many families who "settle" for SELA for the same reason. unfortunately, Hebrew is a about as useful as Albanian, Tagalog, etc for most people.

- signed Mom of child at another immersion charter who has to learn Hebrew for his bar mizvah but have no interest in sending him to SELA.

There are certainly jobs out there where having some mastery of Chinese or Spanish gives a person an edge over the monolingual competition.

I don't see many opportunities for using Hebrew. Maybe to tutor bar/bat mitzvah students? Although presumably they are doing modern Hebrew immersion which might be different than the Hebrew taught in synagogue.

One of the more ignorant statements I have heard on this thread. Not a Hebrew speaker, but I can tell you that several of the scientists on my team at NIH are, and they do lots of research projects with counterparts in Israel and go back and forth in Hebrew. Israel, sadly, has a more sophisticated, and active scientific research community (thank you, Republicans!). Honestly, useful is subjective. I think we should just disband all charter schools and create magnate DCPS for MATH AND SCIENCE. No languages, no green-centered, no Afro-centered. Just math and science. That's what I define as useful.

Dear lovely scientist: may I inquire in what language do those same scientists publish their findings and disseminate them worldwide?

Not Hebrew

Actually, yes, publishing in Hebrew, German. Japanese, French, English, Swedish, Russian...and translating into several languages worldwide. But science is the true unifying language!

So ask your Hebrew speaking colleagues what they think of a secular, non Jewish, Hebrew immersion charter and if they would choose it over other immersion charters that teach Spanish, Mandarin, French.

[Anonymous]

In Florida a lot of the animosity against Hebrew-language charter schools came from other (religious) Hebrew Day Schools which feared losing tuition money and students if a Hebrew public charter opened.

It's not possible to avoid the religious element entirely, given that even basic Hebrew words like "Shalom aleichem" have religious connotations. But I do think that if basic safeguards are practiced, a public Hebrew charter can succeed.

All in favor of Dutch, Korean or Swedish (among others) charters too. It is a heck of a lot easier to learn a language at age 6 than as an adult. To me it is simply obvious that a lot of parents would want their kids to learn some language, any language, for this reason alone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:/quote]

You live in a sad world if what happens on DCUM determines what happens in the real world. DCUM naysayers were out in force for many other charters, although it's ignorant and clueless to think everyone says "nay" for the same reasons. If DCUM skepticism/doomsaying determined outcomes, Yu Ying, LAMB and Mundo Verde wouldn't be here today for us to all be freaking out trying to get into.

Try to get out more. DCUM does not determine school success or failure. A lot of factors do, but DCUM Isn't that powerful.

That said, we do still get to voice opinions here and I don't get how Sela will attract or maintain non-Jewish critical mass. Unless they have endless resources for providing free before and aftercare.

Wrong DCUM loved Lamb and MV before the doors were open. There has been nothing but enthusiasm for those two schools. YY has been repeatedly knocked because the school did not encourage or have a separate lottery for native Chinese speaking families. In addition, YY holds itself out as a private school using public school funds. I say this about YY as a five-year parent of YY and agree with some of the criticism, but not all. The three schools have never received the skepticism and doomsday as Sela.

[Anonymous]

Folks there are multiple successful Hebrew public charter schools in the NY/NJ area that are almost 50% non-Jewish and completely secular. It has been done elsewhere, and can certainly be done well in DC. I only wish Sela had been around when my children were young.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are plenty of families who "settled" for LAMB, MV, YY, Stokes etc not b/c they have any interest or connection to Spanish, Mandarin, etc but b/c it was the best school option their child got into. There will be many families who "settle" for SELA for the same reason. unfortunately, Hebrew is a about as useful as Albanian, Tagalog, etc for most people.

- signed Mom of child at another immersion charter who has to learn Hebrew for his bar mizvah but have no interest in sending him to SELA.

There are certainly jobs out there where having some mastery of Chinese or Spanish gives a person an edge over the monolingual competition.

I don't see many opportunities for using Hebrew. Maybe to tutor bar/bat mitzvah students? Although presumably they are doing modern Hebrew immersion which might be different than the Hebrew taught in synagogue.

One of the more ignorant statements I have heard on this thread. Not a Hebrew speaker, but I can tell you that several of the scientists on my team at NIH are, and they do lots of research projects with counterparts in Israel and go back and forth in Hebrew. Israel, sadly, has a more sophisticated, and active scientific research community (thank you, Republicans!). Honestly, useful is subjective. I think we should just disband all charter schools and create magnate DCPS for MATH AND SCIENCE. No languages, no green-centered, no Afro-centered. Just math and science. That's what I define as useful.

Dear lovely scientist: may I inquire in what language do those same scientists publish their findings and disseminate them worldwide?

Not Hebrew

Actually, yes, publishing in Hebrew, German. Japanese, French, English, Swedish, Russian...and translating into several languages worldwide. But science is the true unifying language!

So ask your Hebrew speaking colleagues what they think of a secular, non Jewish, Hebrew immersion charter and if they would choose it over other immersion charters that teach Spanish, Mandarin, French.

I did and they think it's a great idea. They are generally appalled by the lack of languages spoken by most Americans, and pointed out that people come from all over the world to do research in Israel. Then they pointed out that Americans are 26th in math and science and No. 1 in confidence in their skills. Too sad to laugh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:/quote]

You live in a sad world if what happens on DCUM determines what happens in the real world. DCUM naysayers were out in force for many other charters, although it's ignorant and clueless to think everyone says "nay" for the same reasons. If DCUM skepticism/doomsaying determined outcomes, Yu Ying, LAMB and Mundo Verde wouldn't be here today for us to all be freaking out trying to get into.

Try to get out more. DCUM does not determine school success or failure. A lot of factors do, but DCUM Isn't that powerful.

That said, we do still get to voice opinions here and I don't get how Sela will attract or maintain non-Jewish critical mass. Unless they have endless resources for providing free before and aftercare.

Wrong DCUM loved Lamb and MV before the doors were open. There has been nothing but enthusiasm for those two schools. YY has been repeatedly knocked because the school did not encourage or have a separate lottery for native Chinese speaking families. In addition, YY holds itself out as a private school using public school funds. I say this about YY as a five-year parent of YY and agree with some of the criticism, but not all. The three schools have never received the skepticism and doomsday as Sela.

There was NOT universal love for MV, but as a PP pointed out, MV had a huge edge in terms of its connection to ELH and waaaay more parents were willing to risk their kids being founding students for a school like MV. The main point is, if grumbling on DCUM determined a school's success, there are schools that would not be open today. Are you really saying that the 1st poster quoted here is not over-valuing DCUMs influence??

And no one here ever said the doomsday skepticism is exactly the same for Sela as others, everyone can see there's more. Which HELLO is because when you look at what other schools were proposing to do, their curricula, their language choices, NONE of them was as hard to fathom for DC students as a Hebrew school. AND there is no precedent for the unrealistic or untrue and barrage of statements that have been made about the alleged interest of non-Jewish families already in Sela, Hebrew's relevance to non-Jews as a language on the US or world stage, or the "confirmed" plans for Sela. And, as in this very thread, someone raises the hoopla on Sela and asks "Will this stop the hate?", several posters answer the question, and the Sela defenders start accusing the posters ANSWERING THE QUESTION of being the ones to bring Sela up in this thread and "bashing"!!

The unprecedented negative response is a reaction to an unprecedented combination of factors and the conversation will keep going nowhere if the Sela promoters continue in willful or unintentional ignorance of the VISIBLE (cuz hey, it's all still here in writing!) issues legitimately raised and the way the promoters are acting. If its relevant and positive, by all means post it. But don't make it up, don't overstate it, and don't accuse people of bashing you when you started the topic. THAT'S why the doomsday is greater.