Schools to offer Mandarin Chinese

[Judi Lynn]

Schools to offer Mandarin Chinese
Star-Gazette
September 26, 2006

Students in the Hornell City School District will soon have a new choice when they decide what foreign language to study -- Mandarin Chinese.

An $83,464 grant from the U.S. Department of Education was awarded to the Steuben County school district to start the program, according to a news release from U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, D- N.Y.
(snip)

The goal of the project will be to improve foreign language instruction by introducing Chinese as an elective for pupils in kindergarten through second grade and a full credit course for high school students, the release said.

The Foreign Language Assistance Program-Local Education Agency Grant provides federal funding for foreign language instruction in less commonly taught languages, including Arabic, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Russian and some Indic, Iranian and Turkic languages, the release said.
(snip/...)

http://www.stargazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060926/NEWS01/609260307/1001/NEWS

[Ignacio Upton]

1. Considering China's rise on the world stage

And the interest in teenagers in Asian culture in general (a lot of high schools and colleges now have anime clubs) I think this is a good thing. Also, learning Mandarin is very challenging, even more so than Spanish, Latin, or French.

[aquart]

2. An important and necessary step to becoming a client state of China.

We should at least be able to speak to the people we owe so much money.