I try not to gripe on my blog, but when something seems so wrong, it’s hard to stay silent.
Yesterday when I was walking around downtown Chicago I overheard conversations in Mandarin not once, but twice in 20 minutes. And I wasn’t even in Chinatown.
So my issue is this. My suburban school district is surrounded by districts that teach Mandarin. But mine doesn’t. I knew this when we moved here four years ago, but the resistance to bring in Mandarin has been baffling. And frankly quite troubling.
What’s the problem? Is it that parents and administrators don’t see the need? Or is it that they don’t like change? Or could it be that China is scary and different?
I’m not sure exactly. But I do know that my children and their peers will lose out if they don’t have the skills it takes to make a living. Jobs are tough to come by now. I can’t imagine what it’ll be like in 10 years.
But 20 years ago I could imagine that Mandarin would burst onto the global scene as the language to know. The former Mayor of Chicago understood the importance of learning Mandarin and brought it into the Chicago Public Schools five years ago. And as I mentioned above, the suburban school districts that surround mine all teach Mandarin in high school. So to my district I ask: what gives?
I can even picture in the years to come how regional dialects might be useful to know in certain industries. While Mandarin is the unifying language in China, it’s not most people’s mother tongue. If someone does business in Fujian or Sichuan, the local dialects of cities there might come in handy as well as Mandarin. It could make the difference between getting the deal and going home empty.
Just today I was sitting at lunch with a friend when a family entered the restaurant speaking Cantonese. I actually understood the simple sentence the daughter spoke to her parents. That rocked my world.
@Giora, the conventional wisdom is that China would overtake the US as the worlds’s largest economy in about 2030 like you mentioned. But some experts are now revising this forecast. Some are saying that, barring any unforeseen circumstances, the Chinese economy will overtake the US’s in about only 6-7 years time from now! Scary, really! So it does make eminent good sense like Susan Blumberg said, for the American schools to start offering Mandarin classes to the students. Nei Sek bao mei?
Thank you for your comment!!! Ngo m’sik bao ah! It’s all the more baffling because about half the fathers in my town have traveled to China on business. You’d think they’d see the need to teach Mandarin in the schools.
Yeah, it’s true that we have been hearing a lot of predictions about when China is going to overtake the US as the preeminent superpower. However, whether or not China will actually live up to its potential is not yet a sure thing, and after the events of the past week one might say that China’s rise has been put further into doubt.
I don’t know if you guys have been following the news lately, but last week Obama delivered what was a rather ominous message to China in the Australian Parliament: the US is going to focus on China. Up to that point, all the China bashing in the US had been regarded as little more than populist rhetoric designed for the upcoming election. However, the stern language used by Obama against China last week, coupled with the announcement that a new permanent American military presence will be set up in Australia, indicates clearly that the US has begun implementing a containment strategy. Things may get messy, and let’s hope we can avoid a war.
Thanks! Yes, it’s all a bit scary. War is the last thing anyone needs now. I just saw something on tv (which doesn’t mean much) about how China’s defense budget is still pretty low, but the interviewee didn’t mention how the PLA has its hand in many a business in China (and thus makes money that way). We need more people in the US who can speak Mandarin and understand China rather than fear it.
In about 2030, China is expected to be the largest economy in the world and it will be useful for Americans to know Mandarin to improve their chances to get good jobs. In Canada, especially in Vancouver, parents as the Education Baord to teach Mandarin in schools.
Vancouver seems to be ahead of most places in North America for many things! I find it very ironic that my district doesn’t teach Mandarin when so many of the fathers either travel to China on business or work with Chinese companies here in the US.
You’re right, that doesn’t make sense. Our school doesn’t have Mandarin offered, but we’re out in the middle of nowhere. Still, there’s a huge Taiwanese community just east of us. This makes me think I should push for Mandarin in our school, too!
Amy
P.S. And I love when I can eavesdrop like that. LOL!
I’m not in a big town, but we are 20 miles from Chicago. If there’s a Taiwanese community near you, then I’m sure parents will want their kids to learn to read and write, even if they can speak fluently and have been attending Chinese school on the weekends for years. I think kids will learn better if they have it in school every day.
I found it difficult to return to the US where I could understand everyone, and standing in line at the post office or at a cafeteria no longer posed a challenge. So it’s always fun to run into people speaking Mandarin or Cantonese in the States. Keeps life exciting!