DAPHNE, Alabama -- Daphne High School is offering Arabic language classes instead of French classes this fall, taught by Sanaa El-Khattabi, a former University of South Alabama professor.

The school had a staff position open after its French teacher retired, said Meredith Foster, Daphne High’s principal. “We had to make a decision to replace that foreign language unit,” she said.

School officials believe the class will help prepare students to succeed in a global economy.

But some Daphne residents are upset that the Baldwin County school system is permitting its students to learn what they call “a culture of hate.”

“When you teach Arabic, you have to teach the culture along with it,” said Chuck Pyritz, whose two sons, Isaiah, 17, and Isaac, 14, attend Daphne High. “The culture is intertwined with Islam.”

Pyritz cited the case of jihadist Omar Hammami, who grew up in Daphne, as a compelling reason that school systems should not offer courses in Arabic. "That's another red flag for us," he said.

Hammami, who attended Daphne High, but did not graduate, is believed to have been killed a few weeks ago by members of his former Somali Islamist militant group, al-Shabab.

“This is America, and English is our language, and while I understand the alleged premise of offering Arabic at our high school, I don’t agree with it,” said Michael Rife, who lives in Daphne. “It is not just another language; it is a language of a religion of hate. I’m concerned about our taxpayer dollars going to fund such a program, because I don’t believe it has a lot of foundational value.

“It just concerns me that we’re headed down a path of further eroding our society to a Muslim-based society, or Sharia law (the moral code of Islam), and I’m not willing to let that happen without … something to say about it.”

Pyritz was also disturbed, he said, after meeting with Baldwin school officials to voice his concerns and learning of plans to expand Arabic and other language course offerings in Daphne’s elementary and middle schools.

“They’re trying to indoctrinate our children with this culture that has failed,” he said. “…Why should we want to teach our kids a failed culture when we have a culture that has been successful? All we have to do is follow our Christian culture, which has brought this nation to the pinnacle of success. … I don’t see why they would want to teach this.”

An international focus

Alan Lee, superintendent of the Baldwin County school system, said Daphne High, with an enrollment of about 1,400, includes students from 30 countries, and that offering Arabic is one of many ways that the school keeps an international focus and helps its graduates prepare for the global economy.

“If you look at the languages of the world, Arabic certainly would be one of the languages that I would want my own child to learn, because of the opportunities it would provide” in terms of careers and paths of study, Lee said.

Daphne High School strives to provide its students with an understanding of different cultures and societies, Lee said. “We’re proud of the school,” he said, adding that he hopes the Baldwin County school system will soon be able to offer a plethora of foreign language opportunities for children from kindergarten on up.

“I’m very excited about that,” Lee said. “I’m sure many parents will want their children to learn Spanish, Mandarin Chinese, Japanese or Arabic.”

Job opportunities

Multilingual job candidates will have an advantage in the Alabama job market, given the variety of international companies, Lee said, including Airbus Americas, ThyssenKrupp, Outokumpu, Toyota and Hyundai.

“The growth of international businesses in the South is increasing exponentially,” said Brian Heuser, a professor in international education policy at Peabody College at Vanderbilt University. “Those countries that decide not to learn languages, that decide not to invite immigrants from all parts of the world, are the ones that will fall behind in the global economy,” he said.

“We also know that a lot of folks from the Arab world have relocated here,” he said, particularly in the South. “We need to embrace this new global reality of having a multicultural society.”

Heuser has advised Lee and Foster about international studies at Daphne High School.

Multilingual applicants are also much needed for international counter-terrorism work, said Douglas Astralaga, the media representative and chief division counsel for the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Mobile division. “If you have a second language, that clearly sets you apart from any other candidates,” he said.

The FBI works extensively with law enforcement in the international arena and is always working to recruit qualified applicants who have the ability to speak either Farsi or one of the other Arabic languages, Astralaga said.

‘Positive response’

Daphne High School first advertised for an instructor to teach Mandarin Chinese, said Foster, the principal. When a couple of candidates didn’t work out for that course, she hired El-Khattabi.

The three Arabic classes are filled, Foster said, with 25-30 students in each.

“We’ve had nothing but positive response,” Foster said. “The students are very excited about the class. They come to me in the hallway or in my office and say how much they’re enjoying it. She’s a very dynamic teacher.”

Pyritz was worried that students at Daphne High were being encouraged to take Arabic instead of Spanish, but Foster said that any student who wanted to take Spanish had the opportunity to do so.

“They are not advised one way or another,” she said.

Religion in schools

Donna Rife, a Daphne resident who has two grandchildren in Daphne schools, questioned the fairness of teaching Arabic when public school systems often discourage any expression of religion.

“If they want to speak their language, that is their privilege in this country,” she said. “But don’t silence another voice, such as Christianity. … We are not a Muslim nation, and yet they’re trying to bring this kind of nonsense into (schools). I am absolutely against it.”

Rife was also disturbed, she said, about the possibility of her grandchildren studying Islam. “It’s a great concern to me, because they’re being indoctrinated with this,” she said.

“Arabic leads right into the Muslim teaching, and that is where the danger is and that is what I am absolutely against,” she said. “Let them teach that in their mosques -- but keep it out of our schools.”

Heuser, who also has a master’s degree in theological studies, said he understood that view. “There’s a larger point to be made here,” he said. “Not all Christians are the same, and not all Muslims are the same. There’s a huge spectrum in Islam. There are some on the extreme end of things … but by and large, if you think about the fact that there are a billion Muslims, they tend to be fairly peaceful overall.

“I’m not an apologist, but you have to put it in context as a whole. All of the religions have violent pasts.”

Pyritz is attempting to organize a group of parents and pastors to attend a Baldwin County school board meeting to express their concerns.

He also was upset because he felt that the school system didn’t give parents much advance notice about the Arabic classes. “They did not give us a chance as parents to say whether or not we wanted this in our community,” he said.