Washington Hebrew

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"klassy with a k" is slang. My kids use it. It means tacky as in signs like "Klassic Kleaners," not classy at all.

Interesting, self-definitional slang. Once you use it, you become it. Brilliant!

Well, not exactly. When you use it, you're expressing your superiority to those "other" tacky people.

[Anonymous]

This sounds like a great opportunity for DC students. Hebrew has a common root with my family's languages (Amharic and Tigrinya). I would consider sending my son there. Studies show that what is important is your kids learning another language and it really doesn't matter what that language is. Modern Hebrew is a modern language spoken by millions of Jews and non-Jews worldwide. If there were an Amharic school, that would be great. I think there would be a lot interest among non-Ethiopians in an Amharic school. Why do we assume that non-Jews would not be interested in a Hebrew language school? Why do we assume all Jews are smart? Or all Jews are rich? Or all Jews live in Ward 3? It sounds like there are a lot stereotypes happening here. I have heard similar comments from non-Ethiopians about my community. We are not all cab drivers, some of us learned English at a very high level at home, and feed our children quite well, thank you. The whole point of a charter school seems to be that there is a concept that might not appeal to everyone (art studio school or hospitality management), but appeals to enough people, or is located in a convenient place for people, so that the school can be opened and compete for students. If there are not enough students, the school will fail. I don't think we should create bars for certain schools because we have prejudices against certain groups of people (Jews, whites, etc.). We don't demand that other charter schools appeal to all students. Why is this one different?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This sounds like a great opportunity for DC students. Hebrew has a common root with my family's languages (Amharic and Tigrinya). I would consider sending my son there. Studies show that what is important is your kids learning another language and it really doesn't matter what that language is. Modern Hebrew is a modern language spoken by millions of Jews and non-Jews worldwide. If there were an Amharic school, that would be great. I think there would be a lot interest among non-Ethiopians in an Amharic school. Why do we assume that non-Jews would not be interested in a Hebrew language school? Why do we assume all Jews are smart? Or all Jews are rich? Or all Jews live in Ward 3? It sounds like there are a lot stereotypes happening here. I have heard similar comments from non-Ethiopians about my community. We are not all cab drivers, some of us learned English at a very high level at home, and feed our children quite well, thank you. The whole point of a charter school seems to be that there is a concept that might not appeal to everyone (art studio school or hospitality management), but appeals to enough people, or is located in a convenient place for people, so that the school can be opened and compete for students. If there are not enough students, the school will fail. I don't think we should create bars for certain schools because we have prejudices against certain groups of people (Jews, whites, etc.). We don't demand that other charter schools appeal to all students. Why is this one different?

Oh, don't go making sense on this subject and expect that to convince everyone. There are some people who don't want to be convinced - logic be damned.

[Anonymous]

Amharic is spoken by a smaller population of people than Hebrew. Heck, even in Ethiopia, the people of the south don't speak the language. Amharic may be the official language, but it is only spoken by half the population in Ethiopia.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Amharic is spoken by a smaller population of people than Hebrew. Heck, even in Ethiopia, the people of the south don't speak the language. Amharic may be the official language, but it is only spoken by half the population in Ethiopia.

And yet my husband & I, (most of) whose families have been in the US since its inception, would be thrilled to send our child to an Amharic immersion school. As the PP noted, learning a second language is good for the brain, period. And the Horn of Africa has such a rich & amazing cultural heritage; my child, at least, would be enthralled to learn more of its history.

[Anonymous]

I could imagine some government agencies whose mouths would water over the students from an Amharic immersion school.

[Anonymous]

Which agencies?

[Anonymous]

I think the Amharic thing is an interesting point. If it doesn't bother us the idea of an Amharic charter school, why does a Hebrew charter school engender the negative comments we have seen here. Maybe we need to look into our own prejudices a bit more. Being African-American and a fairly religious Christian, I can acknowledge that there is anti-Semitism in our community, I don't think it is widespread as some Jewish people have asserted, but it is there. I sent my children to an Afro-centric charter school for a year, I didn't like the educational standards there, so I moved them to another charter. I personally don't care if we have a Swedish language charter school or a Finnish language charter school or a Hebrew one. I don't think we need to make judgments on the utility of these languages. If the market is there, the children will come. There is simple utility in learning any language like the previous people said.

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't support an Amharic immersion school either. Or a Kurdish immersion school. But I also don't think either of these are intended to be private-school-on-the-cheap.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is simple utility in learning any language like the previous people said.

Swimming against the current, but I'd disagree with that claim. I don't mean to say that there are useful languages and not useful languages. Neither do I mean to say that learning a language, any language, is better than none. But to do that meaningfully, and to do it at the expense of other things, I think it's permissible to think about it carefully, especially in the US, where for decades, why almost centuries, English has dominated. Rather, I'd like to claim that context matters. Learning a language must come with context, at home, at work, in society, on television etc. Immersion settings try to simulate that but they too have a hard time making a point unless there is something that drives the need for languages beyond the narrow walls of the school. Fortunately, the US also has such a rich history of immigration, reaching back one or multiple generations that provides context and purpose to learning languages. Building on that can mean different things to different families. But the benefit of the time and cost spent on learning another or several other languages will materialize sustainably only if that broader context can be provided (travel, exchanges, au-pairs, family history, living near immigrant communities, sharing practices/clubs, spending time with non-English speaking families etc.).

[Anonymous]

I don't want my tax dollars in an amharic school either
I hope this charter is not approved

[Anonymous]

For good or ill, DC charter law allows schools with a narrow focus. Look at the hospitality industry charter high school, the various "expeditionary learning" schools, schools with an arts focus.

If Washington Hebrew is a good school that has a lot to offer its students, familes who would never have been interested in Hebrew will want to enroll because the quality of the rest of the program (and the dearth of good options in DC). If it's a mediocre school, it won't be able to retain enough students to survive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For good or ill, DC charter law allows schools with a narrow focus. Look at the hospitality industry charter high school, the various "expeditionary learning" schools, schools with an arts focus.

If Washington Hebrew is a good school that has a lot to offer its students, familes who would never have been interested in Hebrew will want to enroll because the quality of the rest of the program (and the dearth of good options in DC). If it's a mediocre school, it won't be able to retain enough students to survive.

Exactly. All of which is to the credit of the charter system. After all, a DCPS school performs poorly (as the vast majority have, for the past several decades) they stay open. If a charter school fails to perform, it gets shut down. The market forces of capitalism are a very, very good thing. Without them, DCPS would be in even worse shape than it already is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For good or ill, DC charter law allows schools with a narrow focus. Look at the hospitality industry charter high school, the various "expeditionary learning" schools, schools with an arts focus.

If Washington Hebrew is a good school that has a lot to offer its students, familes who would never have been interested in Hebrew will want to enroll because the quality of the rest of the program (and the dearth of good options in DC). If it's a mediocre school, it won't be able to retain enough students to survive.

I read this as saying, the school would be offered as a substitute private school, for families who can't afford private school. I'm of mixed minds about this. Washington Latin is probably a substitute private school, but then what it really is is a "good" school that serves as an alternative for families in areas with bad schools. The hospitality school is training kids for jobs. What makes me a little queasy about a hebrew school is that is is not only a substitute private school, it is also a school that caters to a specific ethnic group. While I'm sure some families would take any school over the really bad local public school, I'm not convinced hoards of families will do this, especially families facing a commute from SE.

[Anonymous]

My point was that DC is full of narrowly-focused charters, but that doesn't much matter, because so many parents are desperate for a decent school & they'll put up with whatever esoteric idea the founders may have favored. This does NOT make such schools a substitute for privates--in fact, it's families who couldn't afford private who provide the critical mass to make such schools viable.