Education historian Diane Ravitch makes clear her opposition to New York City’s plans to open a new public school devoted solely to study of Arabic culture and language in a guest column in the New York Daily News headlined “Arabic school fails the test—A United City Demands We Educate Kids Together.”
“This is a mistake,” argues Ravitch, who also co-writes the Bridging Differences blog on edweek.org. “Such a school violates the very purpose of public education, which is to teach the ideas, traditions, values, knowledge and skills that young people need to become productive members of American society.”