Saturday, May 28, 2011

Spanish Language Saga continues...alas.


Letter to the new principal:

Dear Rabbi Sinoff,

On Friday, the parents of high school students were given a list of offered courses for the 2011-2012 school year to help our children to choose the classes and sign the list.

With astonishment and disbelief we have found that much discussed Spanish Language course is offered online. After numerous discussions with the board and on the Beren Academy parents blog
our request of having a real teacher was again disregarded. Students need another foreign language as an elective which was discussed in depth with parents and teachers during the previous year. 4 of our 6 children had successfully taken the Spanish course in high school at Beren.

Knowledge of foreign languages increases thе chance of getting into good universities exponentially. For example, it did help our 3 older children to receive a scholarship at Brandeis University and they were always grateful for the fact that they knew Hebrew, Spanish and Russian.

We hope that you, being a graduate of Columbia University with a B.A. in classical Greek, have an appreciation and knowledge of languages and will hire a native speaking Spanish teacher for our high school students.

All public and private schools in US offer foreign language as an elective to its high school students. Our students deserve no less.

Sincerely yours, the Concerned Parents.