Comments on: Blacks, Latinos, and the push to learn Chinese http://calvinho.net/2012/09/10/blacks-latinos-and-the-push-to-learn-chinese/ Doctoral student in sociology at UCLA Sat, 15 Sep 2012 04:54:16 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: Calvin http://calvinho.net/2012/09/10/blacks-latinos-and-the-push-to-learn-chinese/#comment-17 Sat, 15 Sep 2012 04:54:16 +0000 http://calvinho.net/?p=295#comment-17 Aw, thanks! Hope you’re doing well!

]]> By: Eleanor G http://calvinho.net/2012/09/10/blacks-latinos-and-the-push-to-learn-chinese/#comment-16 Sat, 15 Sep 2012 04:31:55 +0000 http://calvinho.net/?p=295#comment-16 I found this through Racialicious! You’re famous! That aside, this was well written and thought-provoking. Thank you.
-Eleanor, your erstwhile little sib
-

]]> By: Balancing American, Mainland, and Taiwanese influences in Chinese language schools | Calvin N. Ho http://calvinho.net/2012/09/10/blacks-latinos-and-the-push-to-learn-chinese/#comment-15 Sat, 15 Sep 2012 03:09:05 +0000 http://calvinho.net/?p=295#comment-15 [...] learning “critical languages” such as Chinese, and at least one school district has mandated that all students learn the language. Though these initiatives have generally ignored privately-run extracurricular programs like the [...]

]]> By: Balancing American, Mainland, and Taiwanese Influences in Chinese Language Schools : Asian-Nation : Asian American News, Issues, & Current Events Blog http://calvinho.net/2012/09/10/blacks-latinos-and-the-push-to-learn-chinese/#comment-14 Sat, 15 Sep 2012 02:54:52 +0000 http://calvinho.net/?p=295#comment-14 [...] learning “critical languages” such as Chinese, and at least one school district has mandated that all students learn the language. Though these initiatives have generally ignored privately-run extracurricular programs like the [...]

]]> By: Alison Claire Parker http://calvinho.net/2012/09/10/blacks-latinos-and-the-push-to-learn-chinese/#comment-12 Fri, 14 Sep 2012 07:53:35 +0000 http://calvinho.net/?p=295#comment-12 I can get public apathy when it comes to other languages. After all, it’s hard, and you often don’t get to reap the best benefits* until you’ve studied for many years, and there’s all sorts of issues where people feel expos and vulnerable when their language ability isn’t up to scratch… But the idea of the government not even offering the classes? Don’t they even care about phonics? Australians in general don’t place any huge value on foreign languages either (after all, everyone already speaks English, right?), but our politicians at least try to encourage language study. Even my horrible primary school had compulsory Greek lessons because of the large Greek community in the area. And my area was way less than 70% Greek.

*The best day in my life was when I realized I was good enough at Chinese to watch Chinese war dramas, which are so awesome.

]]> By: Calvin http://calvinho.net/2012/09/10/blacks-latinos-and-the-push-to-learn-chinese/#comment-11 Fri, 14 Sep 2012 07:06:31 +0000 http://calvinho.net/?p=295#comment-11 Most non-Americans seem to overestimate the value that Americans place on learning a foreign language. I don’t know about that county, but in my high school in immigrant-heavy California, for example, foreign languages were not taught until high school and no students were required to take one. We were given the option of Spanish or French, with most choosing Spanish. What is tragic is that the school was 70% Latino, many if not most from Spanish-speaking families, and there was no instruction available in Spanish until 9th grade!

]]> By: Alison Claire Parker http://calvinho.net/2012/09/10/blacks-latinos-and-the-push-to-learn-chinese/#comment-10 Fri, 14 Sep 2012 06:45:54 +0000 http://calvinho.net/?p=295#comment-10 Given what I’ve heard about the cost of university education in the US, learning Chinese could definitely give advantages to students – especially those whose families have some money, but not enough for US tuition. I’m studying a bachelor’s degree in China, with my uni fees costing ¥24,800 yuan (~$4000) per year. Yes, there are issues with transferring qualifications between countries, but there are also plenty of study fields where this is not so much of an issue. There aren’t many westerners studying here at the moment, but I do think it is worth considering as an option for higher education on a budget.

That said, there’s no excuse for ignoring Spanish, especially given the US’s location and deographic makeup. It would certainky open doors for a lot more local jobs, which is what the lowest income students wuld find most useful aout it. It’s also a lot easier for native English speakers to learn, for what that’s worth, and would make learning Portugese (the language of the world’s 8th largest economy) a lot easier too.

Why can’t schools offer both languages though? In Australia, the policy for most states is for high schools to offer at least two languages – one Asian and one European language. They don’t give this choice in the US? The whole argument seems like a false dichotomy to me. It’s possible to plan for a future in which China is more dominant without letting go of “the past”.

Out of curiosity, do you have any idea what the school was teaching before the Confucius Institute started offering discount Chinese teachers? Did the county just not have a LOTE program at all? The article certainly doesn’t mention the Chinese program replacing another language. How is this even possible?

]]> By: Blacks, Latinos, and the push to learn Chinese « The Plaid Bag Connection http://calvinho.net/2012/09/10/blacks-latinos-and-the-push-to-learn-chinese/#comment-2 Tue, 11 Sep 2012 20:40:24 +0000 http://calvinho.net/?p=295#comment-2 [...] Over at my academic page I’ve written about racialized language ideology and a new mandate in the US state of Georgia to have all students learn Chinese. Update 9/11/12: I have reposted the text here. Thanks to Racialicious for quoting me on their Tumblr. This post seems to have gotten a bit of attention there.  [...]

]]>