Mandarin Moves Up on the Foreign Language Choice List
 
– By Paul Hicks –

Even prior to the 2008 Olympic Games, some pundits were predicting that this would be “China’s century.” Now, after the extensive media coverage of the Beijing Olympics, people all over the U.S. are beginning to pay attention to China’s potential impact on America and the rest of the world.
 Many aspects of China’s economic progress have been widely reported, including the more than tenfold increase in its gross domestic product (GDP) over the past 30 years. At the same time, the swelling U.S-China trade deficit has become a subject of growing concern. Even though China is a major power, it is still considered a developing nation and ranks 100th in the world when GDP is measured on a per capita basis.
Writing recently in Foreign Affairs magazine, U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. cautioned: “Americans who worry that China will overtake the U.S. are worrying about the wrong thing. They should instead be concerned that Beijing may not make key reforms or that it will face significant economic difficulties down the road [that] could threaten the stability of the U.S. and global economies.”
 One way the U.S. government is addressing those concerns is through the National Security Language Initiative, which the Bush administration launched in early 2006. The goal of the NSLI is to increase significantly the number of Americans learning Mandarin Chinese and other “critical need” foreign languages.
With bi-partisan Congressional support of the NSLI, funding has begun to flow into new and expanded programs from kindergarten through university and into the workforce. Some early evidence of NSLI’s positive effect may even be seen in the latest survey by the Modern Language Association, which showed that enrollment in Chinese language classes at U.S. colleges and universities increased by 51% from 2002 to 2006.
 American interest in learning Chinese is growing, even though it is rated as one of the most difficult languages for English speakers to master. There are a number of other Chinese dialects, such as Cantonese, but the great majority of students in the U.S. and elsewhere choose to study Mandarin, which is the official language of the People’s Republic of China and of Taiwan.
Although it has been taught at the university level for a long time, Mandarin has only been added to foreign language choices in secondary schools within the past 25 years. Key initial support came from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, which began providing grants in 1982 to encourage both public and private secondary schools to add or expand Chinese language programs.
 Mamaroneck High School, one of the early participants in the Dodge Foundation’s “China Initiative,” started teaching Mandarin in 1987. According to Mamaroneck School Superintendent Paul Fried, the faculty now has four full-time Mandarin instructors. Today, more than 300 students are taking Chinese language courses in Mamaroneck schools, beginning in the 6th grade.
 While other local public school districts have been slow to follow Mamaroneck’s lead, a growing number of private schools in the area are offering Mandarin courses. The earliest of these programs, which was begun in 1969 by Northern Westchester Chinese School, now has more than 300 students enrolled in weekend classes at Briarcliff Middle School.
 A similar program is offered by the Chinese School of Southern Westchester (CSSW), which was founded in 1981. It offers Chinese language and culture classes on Saturdays at Edgemont High School in Scarsdale. Like its counterpart in Briarcliff, the CSSW courses attract children and adults from both Chinese and non-Chinese families.
 Franklin Chu, a Rye resident and Principal of CSSW, has been acting as an advisor to both public and private schools that are considering whether to add Mandarin to their foreign language curriculums. In his view, the current high level of interest means, “We have reached a change point in America’s recognition of Chinese as a world language.”
 At Rye Country Day School, which introduced Mandarin in 2006, courses are taught in grades 6 - 12 by two teachers who are both graduates of Chinese universities. Mandarin courses are also offered at Hackley School in Tarrytown, as well as at three private schools in Greenwich: Brunswick, Greenwich Academy and Greenwich Country Day School.
Earlier this year, a committee appointed by Scarsdale School Superintendent Michael McGill recommended the addition of Mandarin as a foreign language. Their reasons for selecting Mandarin over other languages included its strategic importance, student and community interest, sustainability as a program and availability of teachers and resources.
 Scarsdale is now planning to add Mandarin in the 2009-2010 academic year, beginning in the sixth grade, after developing the curriculum and hiring faculty. Meanwhile, Horace Greeley High School in Chappaqua has introduced a course this year that will combine Mandarin instruction with analysis of Chinese culture and contemporary society.
 It appears that the Rye public school system may soon be joining the Mandarin parade. According to Steven Cohen, Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum, an introductory Mandarin course is likely to be added next year, although the details have not yet been determined. Like the Horace Greeley approach, it might combine language instruction with other academic disciplines.
 Some critics see the growing interest in Mandarin as just another foreign language fad, like the fascination with Russian following the launch of Sputnik or with Japanese as a result of Japan’s “economic miracle.” Unlike Russian and Japanese, however, Mandarin’s future as a world language is assured by China’s importance as a super power and the more than one billion people who already speak the language.