Ensuring Tolerance and American Values in NYC Public Schools

Here's a copy of a letter that I sent to Joel Klein, Chancellor of the NYC Public School System. If he replies, I'll be glad to post it.

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April 25, 2007


Chancellor Klein,

I am writing to you in response to a matter that was brought to my attention recently, the proposed opening of the Khalil Gibran International Academy.

I agree with the need for creating additional Arabic speakers across different dimensions of society. It is disturbing that our military and intelligence community do not have enough Arabic speaking people to do their jobs as effectively as possible. Just as in the cold war we needed Russian linguists, so do we now need Arabic linguists. This need is not limited to the military or intelligence community and it spans many other important dimensions of American society. However, I am deeply concerned that such a school comes with some meaningful risk and that these risks have to be analyzed, discussed openly and addressed before such a school should be opened.

First, let me provide a bit of background on me and my family.

I am a first generation American, born in New York City. At 18, I volunteered to serve in the armed forces of our nation because I saw it as my way to give back to this great land that had given my family so much opportunity. Senator Moynihan of New York nominated me, and I entered West Point upon graduating from high school. After West Point, I served as an officer of the United States Army, in a wide range of places domestically and abroad. One such place was Mogadishu, Somalia, where we worked under severe and dangerous conditions to provide humanitarian assistance to a native Moslem population. Since leaving the Army, I attended graduate school and have been involved in a variety of initiatives in the security industry for almost 15 years. Others in my family have served in the US military as well and I even have a brother that is studying Arabic in college.

Clearly, the notion of training more people to speak Arabic is something that I support because I think that our nation needs more Arabic speaking people. However, as mentioned earlier, there are many questions that need to be answered before a school like Khalil is opened. Here are just a few:

What controls will be in place to monitor the content of what is taught and the manner of how it is taught? We want our public schools to teach American values and civics.

How do we keep religious ideology from permeating class discussions, study material, homework assignments and more? As you know, tenets of Islam make it very difficult (if not outright impossible) to separate ‘church and state’ and school books in all Arab countries (without a single exception) are filled with blatant anti-American, anti-Western, anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli rhetoric.

How will we ensure that important lessons are not cast aside for political correctness or expediency? As you may well know, it has been announced that schools in the UK will no longer teach the Holocaust in history class for fear of offending Moslem students. It is disturbing that anyone would be offended by learning about one of the darkest moments in human history. Moreover, it is especially ironic in that Moslems had nothing to do with the Holocaust. However, it is indicative of the depth of the anti-Semitic ideology of even the “moderates”. Such action by UK schools is shocking and terrifying in its implications.

Will there be special curricula in place for students that are different from students at other NYC public schools? If so, who will determine it? Who will review and monitor it?

Will there be non-Moslem teachers? If the focus is Arabic-language, it seems reasonable that teachers of Jewish, Christian and other faiths should be not just allowed, but required at this school for obvious reasons.

Will non-Moslem students be enrolled? Will we take an “integration” approach to ensure that children of Christian, Jewish and other faiths be given the opportunity to study Arabic? A diverse staff, faculty and student population will help prevent radical ideologies from developing and becoming accepted.

As you can well imagine, these questions are just the tip of the iceberg. There are many others, some quite sensitive, that need to be discussed and answered aloud. These discussions should happen publicly and with the full participation of designated staff, faculty, administration and parents.

Failure to do so would be a great disservice to our city and our nation.

I would welcome a response and be happy to discuss the matter with you.

All the best,
Elad