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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hebrew is a Category IV language, as opposed to Mandarin which is Category V. Students can typically learn Hebrew in half the time as it takes for Mandarin or Japanese.

Hebrew is roughly comparable in difficulty to learning Greek or Russian.

It's also easier than Arabic, because Arabic has many different dialects and quirks that don't exist in Hebrew. Hebrew makes a good gateway into Arabic, though - because of many shared semitic root words.

Just out of curiosity, what is a Cat VI or Cat V language? I'm not arguing with you, but when I hear "cat 4" or "cat 5" I think of hurricanes, not languages. Presumably NOAA isn't deciding the difference between languages, so who is? What is the rubric for the different categories? What does it actually mean?

According to Wikipedia, the department of defense categorizes language by difficultly to learn, most likely in relation to people speaking English as a first language.


Category I language:
(French, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish)
Category II language:
(German, Indonesian)
Category III language:
(Dari, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi/Urdu, Persian, Punjabi, Russian, Serbo-Croatian, Tagalog, Thai, Turkish, and Uzbek)
Category IV language:
(Modern Standard Arabic, Pashto, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean)

Anyway count me in as someone who doesn't think a lot of non-Jews would really benefit from learning Hebrew.

This is useful, thanks!

[Anonymous]

Also, the fact that Hebrew is spoken by some Jews and nobody likes Jews. We should all admit that that is part of the discussion.

[Anonymous]

Does sela teach modern Hebrew? That is pretty useless. Ancient Hebrew would at least be useful for historical studies.

[Anonymous]

Look, a Hebrew-based school is going to be bound up in Jewish-American and U.S.Israeli politics. Hebrew is useful for people in Israel, those who want a cultural connection to Israel and those who would use it in religious services (e.g., plan on having their kids recite from the Torah someday).

For everybody else, let's be honest, it's really random. About as useful as Tagalog. Maybe less.

Bilingualism is great as a concept. But it has to be clear that bilingualism in a useful language - pick your choice from the world's top 10 or 20 languages - is better than just a bilingually-oriented brain.

I wish the Sela guys well. And it's the charter movement, so let your freak flag fly.

But what I really wish is that people were spending their efforts on making more seats available at entry grades akin to those most in demand, which in the bilingual education context are Yu Ying, LAMB, Mundo Verde, etc., which teach world languages.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also, the fact that Hebrew is spoken by some Jews and nobody likes Jews. We should all admit that that is part of the discussion.

I like my many Jewish friends, so that has little to do with the discussion. And, btw, none of them speak Hebrew.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Look, a Hebrew-based school is going to be bound up in Jewish-American and U.S.Israeli politics. Hebrew is useful for people in Israel, those who want a cultural connection to Israel and those who would use it in religious services (e.g., plan on having their kids recite from the Torah someday).

For everybody else, let's be honest, it's really random. About as useful as Tagalog. Maybe less.

Bilingualism is great as a concept. But it has to be clear that bilingualism in a useful language - pick your choice from the world's top 10 or 20 languages - is better than just a bilingually-oriented brain.

I wish the Sela guys well. And it's the charter movement, so let your freak flag fly.

But what I really wish is that people were spending their efforts on making more seats available at entry grades akin to those most in demand, which in the bilingual education context are Yu Ying, LAMB, Mundo Verde, etc., which teach world languages.

+1000. Great summary

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, the fact that Hebrew is spoken by some Jews and nobody likes Jews. We should all admit that that is part of the discussion.

I like my many Jewish friends, so that has little to do with the discussion. And, btw, none of them speak Hebrew.

Ah, the old some of my best friends are black/gay/Jewish defense. When you have to whip that one out, you know your sunk.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also, the fact that Hebrew is spoken by some Jews and nobody likes Jews. We should all admit that that is part of the discussion.

Snore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, the fact that Hebrew is spoken by some Jews and nobody likes Jews. We should all admit that that is part of the discussion.

I like my many Jewish friends, so that has little to do with the discussion. And, btw, none of them speak Hebrew.

Ah, the old some of my best friends are black/gay/Jewish defense. When you have to whip that one out, you know your sunk.

Yep, as an AA mom, I know that all too well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also, the fact that Hebrew is spoken by some Jews and nobody likes Jews. We should all admit that that is part of the discussion.

Troll troll troll. No, that's not part of the discussion, and you know it's not. Go away.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Look, a Hebrew-based school is going to be bound up in Jewish-American and U.S.Israeli politics. Hebrew is useful for people in Israel, those who want a cultural connection to Israel and those who would use it in religious services (e.g., plan on having their kids recite from the Torah someday).

For everybody else, let's be honest, it's really random. About as useful as Tagalog. Maybe less.

Bilingualism is great as a concept. But it has to be clear that bilingualism in a useful language - pick your choice from the world's top 10 or 20 languages - is better than just a bilingually-oriented brain.

I wish the Sela guys well. And it's the charter movement, so let your freak flag fly.

But what I really wish is that people were spending their efforts on making more seats available at entry grades akin to those most in demand, which in the bilingual education context are Yu Ying, LAMB, Mundo Verde, etc., which teach world languages.

+1000. Great summary

Yes. This captures it totally.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Look, a Hebrew-based school is going to be bound up in Jewish-American and U.S.Israeli politics. Hebrew is useful for people in Israel, those who want a cultural connection to Israel and those who would use it in religious services (e.g., plan on having their kids recite from the Torah someday).

For everybody else, let's be honest, it's really random. About as useful as Tagalog. Maybe less.

Bilingualism is great as a concept. But it has to be clear that bilingualism in a useful language - pick your choice from the world's top 10 or 20 languages - is better than just a bilingually-oriented brain.

I wish the Sela guys well. And it's the charter movement, so let your freak flag fly.

But what I really wish is that people were spending their efforts on making more seats available at entry grades akin to those most in demand, which in the bilingual education context are Yu Ying, LAMB, Mundo Verde, etc., which teach world languages.

+1 Couldn't have said it better!

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Look, a Hebrew-based school is going to be bound up in Jewish-American and U.S.Israeli politics. Hebrew is useful for people in Israel, those who want a cultural connection to Israel and those who would use it in religious services (e.g., plan on having their kids recite from the Torah someday).

For everybody else, let's be honest, it's really random. About as useful as Tagalog. Maybe less.

Bilingualism is great as a concept. But it has to be clear that bilingualism in a useful language - pick your choice from the world's top 10 or 20 languages - is better than just a bilingually-oriented brain.

I wish the Sela guys well. And it's the charter movement, so let your freak flag fly.

But what I really wish is that people were spending their efforts on making more seats available at entry grades akin to those most in demand, which in the bilingual education context are Yu Ying, LAMB, Mundo Verde, etc., which teach world languages.

+1 Couldn't have said it better!

Thank you for the voice of reason. Let's see how long it lasts.

[Anonymous]

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!!!