School District Proposes Arabic Classes

By Marcus Gilmer in News on Nov 6, 2008 10:45PM

In a bold and welcomed move, Consolidated High School District 230 is looking to add Arabic courses to its curriculum to help provide students with an opportunity to better understand a part of the world that is becoming a more integral part of everyday life, even in southwest Cook County.

But in a suburban area that has seen a backlash to an increasing Arab presence, efforts to build a program have been unsuccessful, said Zaher Sahloul, president of the Mosque Foundation in Bridgeview.

Recently, Oak Lawn Community High School rejected a proposal for Arabic instruction, citing more pressing needs to improve its math and science programs.

That decision has fueled the push for Arabic inside District 230, Sahloul said. Some 150 students have signed a petition in support of adding the language.

"Some of these schools have 15 or 20 percent of their students who are of Arabic origin," said Sahloul, who argued that Arabic is becoming more necessary for international trade. "Yet, in spite of that, you have this reluctance to introduce it."

Assistant Supt. Brenda Reynolds said, "We're taking a look at our whole language program. Where is it strong? Where is it weak? What do we need to do to meet the needs of the kids?...If we were gonna go by demographics and that would be the determining factor in what language we wanted to add, it wouldn't be Arabic. It would be Polish." So, in other words...who knows?

Image of the word for the Arabic language, al-`Arabiyya, written in Arabic