The Trouble with Teaching Arabic

There’s been a push for better U.S. initiatives in teaching Arabic languages and cultures, especially since 2001, but presenters at a Michigan State University conference now underway in Washington, D.C., say the outcomes so far are uneven. 

Elizabeth Redden has the full story at Inside Higher Education. With many instructors of Arabic in nontenured or part-time positions, colleges and universities are facing challenges in giving the subject the emphasis it needs.

“Our education system is shooting the nation in its foot,” says R. Kirk Belnap, director of the National Middle East Language Resource Center and a professor of Arabic at Brigham Young University.