Sela in the Post

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This thread is a mess. As someone who lived in Israel, speaks Arabic and Hebrew and had a kid attend a Spanish immersion school, here are a couple of thoughts:

1 Anyone who thinks it's easier to start a charter school than to teach their kid a language is delusional. The idea is not anti-Semitic on it's face, but it sure smacks of the kind of mental gymnastics that anti-Semites tend to use to justify ad hominem attacks on people who happen to be Jewish.

2. Questioning the utility of Hebrew for DC school children is in no way anti-Semitic. Noting that any subject matter dealing with Israel/Palestine is in danger of being politically charged is also not anti-Semitic. Questioning US aid to Israel and Israel's human rights record is not anti-Semitic. With that said, some people who are critical of Israel are deeply anti-Semitic.

3. Having studied Torah and Talmud for many years and even attending yeshiva in Israel before learning Arabic did make Arabic easier for me, but it would have been quicker to just learn Arabic if that had been my goal.

4. There are people in Israel who don't speak English, but my experience was that that the brief time that I spent volunteering with the army was the only time I was around very many of them. Most people really liked to practice their English with me, which I found frustrating. Interestingly, when I returned to Israel after learning Arabic, some people (Sephardi orthodox Jews) preferred to speak Arabic with me to speaking Hebrew. All in all, I think Hebrew is of limited use as a foreign language for Americans. I chose Spanish immersion for my kid and would do so in a heartbeat again.

I’m glad for your sake and mine that there are quality foreign language options in Spanish, French, Hebrew, Mandarin, etc. I studied French my whole childhood and college life and mostly use it to watch French cooking shows, but it was an excellent motivator to learn other languages as an adult.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This thread is a mess. As someone who lived in Israel, speaks Arabic and Hebrew and had a kid attend a Spanish immersion school, here are a couple of thoughts:

1 Anyone who thinks it's easier to start a charter school than to teach their kid a language is delusional. The idea is not anti-Semitic on it's face, but it sure smacks of the kind of mental gymnastics that anti-Semites tend to use to justify ad hominem attacks on people who happen to be Jewish.

2. Questioning the utility of Hebrew for DC school children is in no way anti-Semitic. Noting that any subject matter dealing with Israel/Palestine is in danger of being politically charged is also not anti-Semitic. Questioning US aid to Israel and Israel's human rights record is not anti-Semitic. With that said, some people who are critical of Israel are deeply anti-Semitic.

3. Having studied Torah and Talmud for many years and even attending yeshiva in Israel before learning Arabic did make Arabic easier for me, but it would have been quicker to just learn Arabic if that had been my goal.

4. There are people in Israel who don't speak English, but my experience was that that the brief time that I spent volunteering with the army was the only time I was around very many of them. Most people really liked to practice their English with me, which I found frustrating. Interestingly, when I returned to Israel after learning Arabic, some people (Sephardi orthodox Jews) preferred to speak Arabic with me to speaking Hebrew. All in all, I think Hebrew is of limited use as a foreign language for Americans. I chose Spanish immersion for my kid and would do so in a heartbeat again.

THANK YOU for the sane and informed response! It is only the first point I am not sure I agree exactly what you mean. And I'm the PP who was called anti-semitic. Which is kind of hilarious if you knew me and my family. Very pro-semitic. But politically anti-zionist in its current formation. I did not mean that it's easier to start a school than to teach your child Hebrew. I just think it's worth digging into the real motivations for the school. That's the part that bothers me. It feels a bit disingenuous.

But, one PP makes a good point that there are plenty of questionable charter schools in DC which are doing far worse academically, so maybe it doesn't matter. Until a bunch of graduates start supporting Netanyahu.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread is a mess. As someone who lived in Israel, speaks Arabic and Hebrew and had a kid attend a Spanish immersion school, here are a couple of thoughts:

1 Anyone who thinks it's easier to start a charter school than to teach their kid a language is delusional. The idea is not anti-Semitic on it's face, but it sure smacks of the kind of mental gymnastics that anti-Semites tend to use to justify ad hominem attacks on people who happen to be Jewish.

2. Questioning the utility of Hebrew for DC school children is in no way anti-Semitic. Noting that any subject matter dealing with Israel/Palestine is in danger of being politically charged is also not anti-Semitic. Questioning US aid to Israel and Israel's human rights record is not anti-Semitic. With that said, some people who are critical of Israel are deeply anti-Semitic.

3. Having studied Torah and Talmud for many years and even attending yeshiva in Israel before learning Arabic did make Arabic easier for me, but it would have been quicker to just learn Arabic if that had been my goal.

4. There are people in Israel who don't speak English, but my experience was that that the brief time that I spent volunteering with the army was the only time I was around very many of them. Most people really liked to practice their English with me, which I found frustrating. Interestingly, when I returned to Israel after learning Arabic, some people (Sephardi orthodox Jews) preferred to speak Arabic with me to speaking Hebrew. All in all, I think Hebrew is of limited use as a foreign language for Americans. I chose Spanish immersion for my kid and would do so in a heartbeat again.

THANK YOU for the sane and informed response! It is only the first point I am not sure I agree exactly what you mean. And I'm the PP who was called anti-semitic. Which is kind of hilarious if you knew me and my family. Very pro-semitic. But politically anti-zionist in its current formation. I did not mean that it's easier to start a school than to teach your child Hebrew. I just think it's worth digging into the real motivations for the school. That's the part that bothers me. It feels a bit disingenuous.

Riiiiiight.

But, one PP makes a good point that there are plenty of questionable charter schools in DC which are doing far worse academically, so maybe it doesn't matter. Until a bunch of graduates start supporting Netanyahu.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would fully support a Finnish immersion school. Finnish is a very difficult language - and the Finnish educational model is arguably the best or one of the best in the world. The anti-Sela harpies come out every time Sela receives any news whatsoever, e.g., being ranked as a four star school or being ranked tier 1. If you don’t want to send your kid there, don’t. I don’t particularly like my tax dollars being spent at several far less excelling DCPS or charter schools, or subsidizing rich families with pre-k 3. However, there is plenty utility in learning any difficult language, particularly if you want school to be rigorous and interesting, which we know you don’t think poor children or children of color deserve.

I agree here. I think many are complaining that taxpayer funds are going to fund Hebrew (admittedly a “random” language choice for DC), but dc also finds a ton of shitty schools. Sela is a strong school (historically tier 1 except for this year because they have a very small fifth grade class skewing the scores and bc it’s the first year they did parcc testing). So it’s not like DC is funding a random language immersion that is poorly ranked. If dc wants to fund a strong immersion school -regardless of what language- so that more strong immersion schools are offered in DC than I strongly support that. DCUM can’t complain on one hand that there aren’t enough strong charters in DC then also complain that DC shouldn’t fund an existing strong charter because its Hebrew.

Hmmmm bet you all wouldn't be lining up to get your kids in an African focused school teaching a Nigerian language with all black teachers now would you?

I’m not lining up for sela. My first choice was Spanish immersion. And in DC, most teachers are black. And if it was a language I could somewhat relate to, I’d do it. You’re ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would fully support a Finnish immersion school. Finnish is a very difficult language - and the Finnish educational model is arguably the best or one of the best in the world. The anti-Sela harpies come out every time Sela receives any news whatsoever, e.g., being ranked as a four star school or being ranked tier 1. If you don’t want to send your kid there, don’t. I don’t particularly like my tax dollars being spent at several far less excelling DCPS or charter schools, or subsidizing rich families with pre-k 3. However, there is plenty utility in learning any difficult language, particularly if you want school to be rigorous and interesting, which we know you don’t think poor children or children of color deserve.

I agree here. I think many are complaining that taxpayer funds are going to fund Hebrew (admittedly a “random” language choice for DC), but dc also finds a ton of shitty schools. Sela is a strong school (historically tier 1 except for this year because they have a very small fifth grade class skewing the scores and bc it’s the first year they did parcc testing). So it’s not like DC is funding a random language immersion that is poorly ranked. If dc wants to fund a strong immersion school -regardless of what language- so that more strong immersion schools are offered in DC than I strongly support that. DCUM can’t complain on one hand that there aren’t enough strong charters in DC then also complain that DC shouldn’t fund an existing strong charter because its Hebrew.

Hmmmm bet you all wouldn't be lining up to get your kids in an African focused school teaching a Nigerian language with all black teachers now would you?

Gross.