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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]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.  [/quote]

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.

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