When I agreed to advise the Embassy of Qatar on its education initiatives, I expected some criticism. What I did not anticipate was the barrage of misinformation that followed. Qatar's role in the Middle East is complex, and I believed my background as a former secretary of Education could shed light on its educational efforts. But I never imagined that a program helping American students learn Arabic would be portrayed as an attempt to “infiltrate” our public schools.
That is precisely the narrative pushed by groups raising alarms about Qatar Foundation International (QFI), which has provided grants to support Arabic language programs in U.S. schools. The reality is that America needs more language education, not less, and the scrutiny directed at these programs should be replaced by an examination of the facts.
Under QFI's initiative, American schools retained full control over the curriculum. Funding was transparent, and students received a legitimate educational opportunity to learn a new language—nothing more. Critics have pointed to an incident at P.S. 261 in Brooklyn, where a classroom map labeled the area of Israel as Palestine. But as New York City Schools Chancellor David Banks testified before Congress, the teacher, a city employee, purchased that map with her own money while visiting Jerusalem. It had nothing to do with QFI.
Similarly, in New Haven, Connecticut, where QFI has supported Arabic instruction since 2018, the Foundation for Defense of Democracies has included the city in its exposé-style presentation framing foreign-language grants as national security threats. But Mayor Justin Elicker and Superintendent Madeline Negrón investigated the claims. Elicker stated publicly that he had extensively reviewed the program and found it was “purely teaching students Arabic.”
In June, QFI announced it would end operations in the U.S. after 17 years. Schools and teachers relying on its grants now face an uncertain future. Some critics, including an official from the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy, celebrated the news. That reaction is deeply misguided. American students need more opportunities to study strategically important languages, and the loss of funding for Arabic instruction is nothing to cheer.
The bipartisan Commission on Language Learning of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences concluded that language skills are vital to America's economic competitiveness, national security, and global engagement. It recommended that every child should have the chance to learn a language other than English, and that partnerships involving schools, governments, philanthropies, and businesses could make that possible. Arabic is one of the world's most widely spoken languages and is crucial to U.S. diplomacy, security, and commerce.
Other countries support language education in American schools without controversy. Germany funds German programs in hundreds of schools. Spain places language assistants across the U.S. Italy offers grants for Italian teacher salaries. Japan supports Japanese instruction and sends teaching assistants. We do not call these efforts infiltration. We recognize them as countries promoting their languages and schools taking advantage of resources to expand student opportunities.
Arabic should be treated no differently. QFI's grants were no different—they provided resources to teach an important language. Transparency and local control are essential, and political or religious indoctrination has no place in public-school language classes. But the disappearance of funding for Arabic education is a loss.
I bring personal experience to this debate. I recently resigned from the Middle East Media Research Institute, an organization I once strongly supported for its mission of translating and publishing Middle Eastern primary sources. But in my view, it has drifted toward ideological advocacy, including conspiratorial reports about Qatar. Arabic should not be treated differently from German, Spanish, Italian, or Japanese because of contemporary politics. America will not become stronger by giving its children fewer opportunities to understand the world. We need more language education, not less.
