Memorial High School sophomore Christopher Tate didn’t want to study the “regular” foreign languages such as Spanish or French.
“I wanted to take something new and different,” said Christopher, 15. So, like a growing number of people nationwide, he is learning Mandarin Chinese instead.
“China is poised to become the world’s other superpower,” said Natasha Pierce, who is teaching Mandarin to about 70 students at Memorial, the only Madison school where the language is offered. “We need to be culturally and linguistically competent in Chinese.”
Beginning in 2007, an Advanced Placement exam in Mandarin will be offered, providing students the added incentive of receiving college credit if they pass the test, she said.
This “choice” or elective approach is an interesting contrast to the English elective reductions underway at West.
The high school that I went to in MN has been teaching CHinese for over twenty years now. It is going great, too. Of course, it was a private school (I gave up on the public schools in about eighth grade, because they just weren’t working for me – scholarships and second mortgages…). Anyway, for what it’s worth.