interesting story.
My son became fluent in Arabic while studying at George Washington U (he
spent 8 months in Cairo during his jr year). He was going to go to law
school after that, but he had just gotten back from Cairo when the LSAT was
being given. Long story short, he decided to go back to DC, try to find a
job, and postpone law school.
Let me tell you how many doors opened for him b/c of the Arabic. We were
shocked. He did a 4-month internship at the State Dept, and the CIA and DIA
sought him out. He interviewed with both of them at 21 (not hired, but
close). Ultimately, he got a job with the American Enterprise Institute, a
think tank in DC, which took him on a wild journey..... he spent 3 months in
Baghdad to study the detainees' newly-reformed program, he was sent to
Turkey as a Young Ambassador, he went to Beirut and visited homes of
politicians, and he met the Mubaraks on a trip to Egypt. Newspapers and TV
sought him out for interviews, and he published scads of articles. All of
this by the tender age of 24~
Now, he's in law school - what an adjustment. All the glamor is gone....
but what stories he has to tell.
*Studying Arabic is a great way to carve a unique niche!*
Joan
On Wed, Nov 18, 2009 at 2:49 PM, anthony celentano <
anthonycelentano@popejohn.org> wrote:
> Our experience with Arabic is the same Peter's.
>
> Greeted with great enthusiasm, wound up with very small enrollment. We
> have
> had years in which enrollment was in the single digits, and I don't think
> it
> has ever been more than 12 or 13 (in a school of 900).
>
> We keep offering it because our principal wants it.
>
> Anthony Celentano
> Pope John XXIII High School
> Sparta NJ
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: A forum for independent school educators [mailto:ISED-
> > L@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU] On Behalf Of Peter Gow
> > Sent: Wednesday, November 18, 2009 12:27 PM
> > To: ISED-L@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
> > Subject: Re: Arabic Progams?
> >
> > Small program object lesson:
> >
> > We did, but she left.
> >
> > Although it was greeted with great excitement by all and sundry, very few
> > kids actually enrolled in our Arabic class. The language teacher who
> offered
> > the class (Level I) has since moved on, and I haven't heard a murmur of
> > nostalgia or desire to continue. This may have something to do with the
> fact
> > that kids who took the elective class were already enrolled in other
> > language classes, and therefore no one needed to continue their studies
> in
> > Arabic to fulfill a requirement.
> >
> > To build it into the system one would have to make Level I co-equal to
> other
> > languages and available to 9th graders (in our high school) or otherwise
> > "bind" kids into the language as an element of the required (3 years in
> our
> > high school, even if they come in with previous language) language
> sequence.
> > But I think you really have to decide what critical mass for
> sustainability
> > would be. (We also always have families enthusiastic about the school
> > offering Latin, but never for their own kids.)
> >
> > We did this with Japanese some years back, but never had more than a
> small
> > handful of kids in the program. At some point we had to stop offering
> entry
> > level and just let the last few kids fulfill the requirement, at which
> point
> > the teacher was ready to move on anyhow, and did. She probably had the
> > lightest student load of any independent school teacher in New England
> for
> > her last couple of years.
> >
> > Good luck. I'm sure there are some vital and viable programs out
> > there--Peter Gow
> >
> >
> > --
> > Peter Gow
> > Director of College Counseling and Special Programs
> > Beaver Country Day School
> > 791 Hammond Street
> > Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts 02467
> > www.bcdschool.org
> > 617-738-2755 (O)
> > 617-738-2747 (F)
> > petergow3 (Skype)
>
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--
Expert College Learning Specialist
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www.ConquerCollegewithLD.com
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