From "This Is Uncomfortable": In America, cultural education doesn't come cheap

Hey Smarties! There won’t be a livestream for “Economics on Tap” today. But don’t worry! “Economics on Tap” will return soon on Feb. 20. For now, we’re sharing a new episode from our friends over at “This Is Uncomfortable.” Enjoy!

Author and journalist Aymann Ismail wants his kids to grow up with a real connection to their Egyptian roots, including speaking Arabic. For his family, that means committing to a private Islamic school — and figuring out how to afford tuition. This week, “This Is Uncomfortable” host Reema Khrais talks with Ismail about how he prioritizes his cultural identity, and at what cost. They dig into his family budget to talk about what’s at stake for him, financially and culturally, and why holding onto Arabic feels especially urgent right now.

Ismail’s memoir, “Becoming Baba: Fatherhood, Faith, and Finding Meaning in America,” describes his experience growing up the son of Egyptian immigrants in New Jersey. As a child, he resented that his parents sent him to an Islamic private school, but now that he’s a parent himself, he understands why they made that choice… and he’s decided to do the same.

Ismail wants his kids to learn Arabic, so he’s willing to make this financial sacrifice “for the sake of being connected to this massive heritage that they're inheriting.” He explains, “If you're gonna ask me, how important is it that they get that connection? I'm gonna tell you it's everything.”

• Figure out your priorities and go from there. For Ismail, that’s his children’s schooling and college savings. “Education is the top priority. It's the most valuable thing I think any parent can give them,” he explains. 

• For kids, the value might become clearer as they get older. For example, Ismail didn’t understand why his parents wanted him to go to Islamic school when he was young. “I resented it and I fought my parents about it,” he recounts. “But as I got older, I think I finally am at a point now where I've found the meaning in all of those years of being in Islamic school, all of that money, all of that pain and arguing.”

• You might not share the same values as other parents, even within your own family. Ismail and his wife are determined to teach their children Arabic, but that’s not a priority for either of his two brothers, who’ve opted to send their kids to public school. “Both of them have two kids, and neither of them are even considering Islamic school as an option,” Ismail explains. “I've spoken to my brother about it, and so he's like, ‘Dude, you can't afford it.’ He's like, ‘If you're not saving a third of your income, then you can't afford it.’”