Khalil Gibran International Academy

The third school in my little series, the Khalil Gibran International Academy, is a regular public school in New York City. Well, maybe not that regular; it opened last year amidst controversy that caused its principal, Debbie Almontaser, to resign (the straw that broke the camel's back came when she saw nothing particularly wrong about tee-shirts supporting the Intifada). Since then it has apparently been plagued by numerous problems, including a high level of violence. It aimed to start with the 6th grade, then expand to cover grades 6-12.

The New York papers have all done numerous articles on the subject, with the Times sympathetic to Almontaser and the Post and Sun critical. Daniel Pipes of the Mideast Forum has been a highly visible critic of the school, and posted an extensive history of the dispute online here. For a more sympathetic view of Almontaser, see a recent Times article by Andrea Elliott.

Pipes' critique extends not just to the particulars of the school (as it was supported by CAIR, he doubted it was non-political; with an advisory board of Jewish, Christian and Muslim religious leaders, he doubted it was secular). Beyond that, though, he argues that the bias embedded in most Arabic-language curricula makes it difficult from the very start to conduct balanced study. He also notes that Khalil Gibran is but the latest of a number of Arabic language public schools in the United States; you can read about them here.