Dayton Daily News education reporter Scott Elliott writes about schools, kids, teaching and learning.
Home > Blogs > Get on the Bus > Archives > 2006 > January > 04
Wednesday, January 4, 2006
Forget French, learn Chinese
The overall numbers are still small, but the trend is unmistakable — Chinese instruction is growing fast in the U.S.
Back in November when I spoke to a local high school about careers I told them one of the best things a high school student could do for themselves now is learn language.
If I was in school today, I said I’d want to learn Chinese, Indian, Arabic and Spanish, in that order.
I am convinced those languages will be most useful in the near future, as our economy becomes more intertwined with the world economy and the huge markets of China and India become more important to U.S. business and trade. Arabic, I think, will be a useful language to know as American involvement in, and conflict with, Arab nations shows no signs of abating. As a nation, I imagine we’ll only need more fluent Arabic speakers over time. And Spanish will always be a helpful language for Americans, as our nation’s Spanish-speaking population continues to grow.
Despite these realities, as the Washington Post story shows, American school children prefer Spanish, French and German, in that order, as their top languages to study. I think that shows we are out of touch with the realities of our changing world.
And that’s why I think it’s good news that school districts around the country are at least catching on when it comes to the value of knowing Chinese.
I’ve been frustrated with my own school district’s lack of language offerings at elementary school.
What’s happening in your child’s school? Is there any demand for new languages or discussion going on about changing the offerings?
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Permalink | Comments (4) | Categories: Foreign Language and Study Abroad
Carnival is open
This week’s carnival of education is up at the Education Wonks blog. The carnival is a weekly compilation of the best education blogging of the week. One of my posts from last week is included.
Also, I apologize for the messed up headlines throughout my blog today. I’ve been bitten by some sort of server bug. We are working to repair the problem.
Permalink | | Categories: The Carnival of Education
