Friends in the News

This year, our school community faced a crucial decision. Friends Seminary was going to add a non-Western language to the curriculum, either Arabic or Chinese. The only question was over which language Friends would choose. Students discussed the decision in advisory meetings, and the debate quickly became a big one. There were strong arguments for both languages. China is one of the most important countries in the world, and its importance figures to grow as its economy continues to expand, thus making Chinese an attractive choice. On the other hand, Arabic is spoken all over the Middle East, and could prove critical to American diplomacy as well as economic efforts. In the end, the school’s decision was Arabic, although the decision wasn’t announced to the public until June. Yet, while the choice was simply a school one, the story has already made waves beyond the Friends community. Two articles have recently covered the school’s decision to put Arabic into the curriculum.

The first article appeared on emediaworld.com on June 20, 2008. The URL is as follows:

http://www.emediaworld.com/press_release/release_detail.php?id=82103

The second article was published in The New York Times on June 20, 2008. The URL of the web version of the article is as follows:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/20/nyregion/20bigcity.html?ref=education