Since 9/11, we have heard of the importance of more of us learning to speak Arabic. Indeed, more and more people today are studying the Arabic language, many of these students enrolled in community colleges and prestigious universities as well as uncounted others studying by using software such as Rosetta Stone. I personally know a few young people who have attempted such classes, only to abandon their study of Arabic; the reasons they gave me, their former teacher, were vague but typically included a level of discomfort with the material or the instructor.A July 5, 2008 Washington Post commentary, written by a student at Harvard Law School, provides disturbing information about the material offered in such classes:
To study Arabic in America today is to be inducted into a world of longing, abandonment and regret. And that's before you even touch the political issues....Read the rest at Always On Watch, where I posted this a few days ago. Some rolling in the dust is going on in the comments section.
1 comment:
I wonder what Hugh Fitzgerald thinks about this?
MESA NOSTRA meet ASMEA. . .
http://www.meforum.org/article/1928
Truth About Islam in Academia?
While the Middle East Studies Association (MESA) has long dominated the field, its highly politicized leadership's inability to withstand criticism, inattention to radical Islam, and apologetic approach towards the West's foes has left many Middle East studies scholars feeling unwelcome by their umbrella professional organization.
Enter the Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa (ASMEA).
snip
ASMEA president and professor of political science at California State University at San Bernardino, Mark T. Clark, told Inside Higher Education that ASMEA's founders wanted an association "that would be more independent and reflect the academic community more than interest groups."
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