Arabic High School Teaching: A Sinking Ship
Another creative light was snuffed out in the winds of the national high school Arabic flagship. I found out about it last night and was sad. People may not have liked everything this teacher was doing, but the person works in the trenches and made huge strides in unifying a significant amount of the country’s high school Arabic teachers. Yesterday some of those unifying efforts came to an end.
And why do I so easily walk away from my own efforts when so much of the last few years were spent in tedious training after school, during the summer, etc? First, it’s not that easy to walk away. But second, while there are a few who race to take charge of the helm of this ship, I don’t think they’re savvy of the water seeping into the hold of the ship. While they may push and shove to the top, there is another story below. I can’t explain the extent in a post but here are the bones of the issue.
Who would teach Arabic in a high school? The wage is low. There is usually no promise of a full-time Arabic program so you have to be creative with another job or another subject. The language is hard for students and it is often difficult for students to see a significant jump in skills in one year.
What students take Arabic? Why would a student take Arabic if they can choose Spanish or ASL, etc? What incentive do they have to take a harder language if they are getting the same reward/credit for it? If the teacher makes it easy enough to be fun, they don’t learn anything and don’t feel motivated to stay. If the teacher makes it more challenging, they need to focus more on Arabic rather than on another subject they are taking. You don’t get huge numbers when you make it hard.
Let’s say you get past those two hurdles. Now do these students have access to Arabic in college? Let’s say one of the few college Arabic programs happens to be in your backyard. They have to actually be able to get into the school to continue the language. That will deter potential Arabic students who don’t see a future in their studies.
Let’s say they continue into college. What kind of job can you get speaking Arabic these days? I’ll let you figure that one out. You may know better than I.
Idealogues say it is a great opportunity for understanding a new culture and people. But what’s wrong with learning Chinese or Spanish to understand a new culture and people.
Chinese is succeeding.
I speak Mandarin as well. So why do I think they are succeeding? There are more jobs, more college Mandarin programs, no wars going on…yet, Mandarin is easier to speak than Arabic so you can feel progress faster–it’s just harder to write, and Chinese people will actually shake hands. (I had this problem when a Jordanian principal came to my school in Provo and wouldn’t shake people’s hands. It wasn’t the best PR move.)
If you’ve had the opportunity to learn Arabic in high school, you are a lucky duck. Most Arabic programs right now are propped up by government start-up grants or foundations like Qatar Foundation International. But so far none of these grants promise long-term funding. When the funding runs out, Arabic will be subject to market forces, and well,…it’s a sinking ship. Will Arabic teachers accept lower pay for the same job? This could happen. A few programs might survive but ‘program’ might be a generous word. I should say a few classes might survive but for what price and what conditions?
In other words, while some might be some slicing their way to the helm of the ship, I’ll let them. You gotta know when to untie a life raft and abandon ship especially when the creative of the few willing is slowly snuffed out.
It’s sad to hear because I think there is so much importance to studying Arabic — at least in large part because Americans tend to be suspicious or fearful of the Arabic-speaking world. But I think you are right about market forces; most of the non-profits I have worked with have hit that point when grants are drying up and they can’t compete in a “market” of sorts.