Will American Students Begin Learning Chinese in Public Schools?

Will American Students Begin Learning Chinese in Public Schools?


I have always found other languages exciting and interesting to learn, although I always wished that we started learning foreign languages at a younger age.  In the public schools that I have attended a foreign language option was not offered to us until late in middle school. It has been proven that the best time to learn a language is when children are at the young, elementary school age because they will absorb new information better at this time in their lives.  Lately there has been a lot of talk about whether students in all schools will eventually be taught Chinese as a foreign language.  I think this is interesting because China is becoming increasingly powerful economically, so learning their language could be beneficial.  I think that if students in schools begin getting taught the Chinese language that it start while they are in elementary school.

In the New York Times Online there is an interesting debate section that highlights many reasons that experts in the subject discuss the likelihood of American elementary school aged students being taught the Chinese language in public schools.  Author, Bruce Fuller urges that Americans better start learning Chinese, and soon.  This is because the U.S. and China have such a fused economic connection and China holds 1.8 trillion dollars in U.S. bonds.  East Asia is growing at an exponential rate in terms of population and economy and will soon surpass the U.S., which is why it would be advantageous for us to learn their language.  Statistics show that

"Mandarin Chinese is already the most popular first language on the planet, beating out English by 500 million speakers."  

The Voice of America News Online has an article that explains how the Beijing government has funded the teaching of Chinese to American Students and how it has already been implemented in some U.S. schools.  The Chinese government is spending 25 million dollars per year to start the spread of teaching Chinese as a foreign language. In the first World Chinese Conference last year U.S. diplomats and teachers were sent to learn how to teach and export Mandarin ways. It is estimated that about 1,600 U.S. public and private schools are teaching Chinese which is over 300 more than last year. This trend is catching on, and a lot of school systems are accepting because the Chinese government is paying for most of these teachers salaries.  

So will students really all begin learning Chinese? I believe this is not a change that will take place overnight, but it is beginning to catch on and we can expect to see it being taught or offered in most of our schools in the future.  I think that children now learning the Chinese language will greatly benefit them and give them an advantage in their future since they make up such a large amount of the global population.  It also shows that the U.S. has opened itself more towards learning the culture of others.