As the owner of a high-tech, internationally focused startup who also happens to speak decent Hebrew, I can share that I've used Hebrew in my 20 year career exactly twice --- once to chat with the owner of a Tel Aviv based translation firm that we considered doing some work with (she turned out to be from Ohio, so we quickly switched to English), and once to talk briefly with an Israeli software guy at a networking event.

I also speak (or used to) fairly fluent Egyptian Arabic. I've likewise used Arabic only occasionally to chat with colleagues about non-work stuff.

I studied biblical Hebrew and Aramaic intensively in a yeshiva, modern Hebrew at ulpan, and Arabic in grad school. I found all of this really interesting from a linguistics perspective, and Hebrew helped me a ton in learning Arabic, but none of these languages has been useful for me in my career in the software industry. My experience has been that Hebrew and Arabic speakers tend to speak English (or at least the subset that relates to work) pretty well.

With all of that said, I bear no ill will toward the organizers of a Hebrew immersion charter school. I would, however, rather see my tax dollars spent otherwise. I think the idea that Hebrew will be useful for students' careers is not reality-based. Engineering, math, chemistry or software design skills would be a lot more useful. German, Chinese and Spanish might also be useful --- I've actually studied both Spanish and German post-university for work, and I've often wished I spoke Chinese.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
That involves too much intellectual activity and hard work. They would rather just bay anonymously at the internet.

You're right - anyone with an opinion different from your own is bigoted, dumb, and lazy.

Hmm. Did you follow the charter school application process at all? (No...) Did you complain about your "different opinion" during the application process, which included multiple public hearings? (No...) Are you applying different standards to the Hebrew Charter re:, e.g., "utility," than to other "niche" schools (in most cases, yes...) Are you bitching anonymously (Yes..) If the shoe fits, wear it!

I don't happen to equate stating my opinion as bitching. I AM NOT AGAINST THEM GETTING THE CHARTER, I JUST WOULD NEVER EVER WANT TO SEND MY KID THERE AND FEEL LIKE MANY MANY PARENTS WILL FEEL THE SAME. I am simply expressing that opinion. I absolutely do not apply different standards to other niche schools, but again you seem to keep harping on the fact that everyone MUST be applying some double standard. It is simply not true. I don't know how many different ways people can say this. Sorry if this doesn't fit into the boxes you have conjured up of lazy idiots lashing out at the school. I would have been done with this thread a long time ago if people didn't repeatedly call me a bigot, which for some reason got me worked up.

Opinion stated, and done .

Them? When you use the word "them," other posters don't need to call you a bigot. You said it yourself.

And... they're back!

To that last point, I will say that this is DC. I could start a charter whose focus is witchcraft and it would draw parents. That's just how bad it is.

I have children in a highly desired charter and it is far from nirvana, but it's good enough for now.

Exactly. We did NOT pick Latin for the Latin. Although it turns out that my kid loves it. We picked it over Deal because of the type of kids going there ( really diverse from all over the city, but across the board from academically serious families ) . Also because it was small and happy and goofy and just an all around comfortable place to ages 10 to 14 which are always going to be tough ages anywhere.

Hmm, it makes me sad to think of parents having to send their kids to charter schools when they are not interested in the program because there aren't other good options. Maybe part of the charter evaluation should be whether there is sufficient interest in the program in the community. Not saying that Hebrew would not have sufficient interest - I don't know either way. But maybe this should be part of the eval.

How funny. I took both Spanish and French to try to make up for the fact that I couldn't take Latin. Having lived in France, I still wish I could have taken Latin instead. To each her own, I guess.

Exactly. We did NOT pick Latin for the Latin. Although it turns out that my kid loves it. We picked it over Deal because of the type of kids going there ( really diverse from all over the city, but across the board from academically serious families ) . Also because it was small and happy and goofy and just an all around comfortable place to ages 10 to 14 which are always going to be tough ages anywhere.

Anonymous wrote:Am I opposed to the school? Well, I think according to the charter application process as it currently exists, it should have been approved.
Would I ever consider sending my kid there? Probably not. We aren't Jewish, and I don't see much benefit to him learning Hebrew. Yes, it is good to learn any language, but given that there is limited time in life and you can only learn so many languages, Hebrew would not be one of my top choices. I would have no interest in sending him to a Latin charter school either. I took Latin for several years in grammar school, and I sincerely wish I could have the time back that I spent learning a language that I had no interest in that I never use.

I agree completely - I took Latin and thought it was a big waste of time - but when you look at public middle school options and you aren't in boundary for Deal, WLPCS looks mighty good.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
That involves too much intellectual activity and hard work. They would rather just bay anonymously at the internet.

You're right - anyone with an opinion different from your own is bigoted, dumb, and lazy.

Hmm. Did you follow the charter school application process at all? (No...) Did you complain about your "different opinion" during the application process, which included multiple public hearings? (No...) Are you applying different standards to the Hebrew Charter re:, e.g., "utility," than to other "niche" schools (in most cases, yes...) Are you bitching anonymously (Yes..) If the shoe fits, wear it!

I don't happen to equate stating my opinion as bitching. I AM NOT AGAINST THEM GETTING THE CHARTER, I JUST WOULD NEVER EVER WANT TO SEND MY KID THERE AND FEEL LIKE MANY MANY PARENTS WILL FEEL THE SAME. I am simply expressing that opinion. I absolutely do not apply different standards to other niche schools, but again you seem to keep harping on the fact that everyone MUST be applying some double standard. It is simply not true. I don't know how many different ways people can say this. Sorry if this doesn't fit into the boxes you have conjured up of lazy idiots lashing out at the school. I would have been done with this thread a long time ago if people didn't repeatedly call me a bigot, which for some reason got me worked up.

Opinion stated, and done .

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
That involves too much intellectual activity and hard work. They would rather just bay anonymously at the internet.

You're right - anyone with an opinion different from your own is bigoted, dumb, and lazy.

Hmm. Did you follow the charter school application process at all? (No...) Did you complain about your "different opinion" during the application process, which included multiple public hearings? (No...) Are you applying different standards to the Hebrew Charter re:, e.g., "utility," than to other "niche" schools (in most cases, yes...) Are you bitching anonymously (Yes..) If the shoe fits, wear it!

Anonymous wrote:
That involves too much intellectual activity and hard work. They would rather just bay anonymously at the internet.

You're right - anyone with an opinion different from your own is bigoted, dumb, and lazy.

Anonymous wrote:I don't actually think that they are online, the PP person who claimed to have read the application appears to be lying. I actually asked the Board rep., and she said that that all that is online are the executive summaries: http://www.dcpubliccharter.com/2012-Charter-Application-Guidelines/2012-Charter-Applicant-Executive-Summaries.aspx. I find this whole comment topic pretty disturbing. I am affiliated with another charter that did not get approved (we will be reapplying next year), but I attended all of the public meetings, and spoke with the Hebrew founders, and the other charter candidates, and I can tell you that among the other candidates, we all felt that the Hebrew (and Ingenuity Prep) people had the best applications, the most credentialed team, the most data and research, had gone out into the Wards to meet with community leaders - just a phenomenal job - and appear very committed to helping DC kids. None of you out there appear to understand how much work goes into the application process, but I do, and for you to keep passing judgment, all I can say is try and form your own school, if you think you can do better.

That involves too much intellectual activity and hard work. They would rather just bay anonymously at the internet.

I don't actually think that they are online, the PP person who claimed to have read the application appears to be lying. I actually asked the Board rep., and she said that that all that is online are the executive summaries: http://www.dcpubliccharter.com/2012-Charter-Application-Guidelines/2012-Charter-Applicant-Executive-Summaries.aspx. I find this whole comment topic pretty disturbing. I am affiliated with another charter that did not get approved (we will be reapplying next year), but I attended all of the public meetings, and spoke with the Hebrew founders, and the other charter candidates, and I can tell you that among the other candidates, we all felt that the Hebrew (and Ingenuity Prep) people had the best applications, the most credentialed team, the most data and research, had gone out into the Wards to meet with community leaders - just a phenomenal job - and appear very committed to helping DC kids. None of you out there appear to understand how much work goes into the application process, but I do, and for you to keep passing judgment, all I can say is try and form your own school, if you think you can do better.

Am I opposed to the school? Well, I think according to the charter application process as it currently exists, it should have been approved.
Would I ever consider sending my kid there? Probably not. We aren't Jewish, and I don't see much benefit to him learning Hebrew. Yes, it is good to learn any language, but given that there is limited time in life and you can only learn so many languages, Hebrew would not be one of my top choices. I would have no interest in sending him to a Latin charter school either. I took Latin for several years in grammar school, and I sincerely wish I could have the time back that I spent learning a language that I had no interest in that I never use.

Where can you find the applications online?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All I want to know is, did the Arabic Immersion school also get through. If not, why not?

I hope the rest of the posters on this forum actually read up on the charter approval process and read the applications. Or are they just blindly making comments on things they have no idea about simply because they don't like the idea of something? Must be the same people who didn't involve themselves at all in the process over the past year.

EXACTLY. Why can't we all just sit back and hope that the school thrives (when it opens its doors in 1.5 years)? They worked hard, put together a strong application, you had your chance to go out to the public meeting and argue against it, you were lazy and didn't -blame yourselves, they got their charter and now need to do the hard work to put a quality school together. If they can't put together a quality school, you can complain and petition to have their charter withdrawn, by using the public process available. This is why we have a Charter School Board in the first place.