Our Changing World
¡°Today¡¯s high school students will graduate into a world vastly different from that of the 20th century. To succeed in this new global age, our students will need a new skill set that goes beyond reading, math, and science to include international knowledge and skills.¡± -- Vivien Steward, Vice President, Education Asia Society
¡°Most people in the world are multilingual, and everybody could be; no one is rigorously excluded from another's language community except through lack of time and effort.¡± -- Nicholas Ostler, British scholar
- Today¡¯s kindergarteners will graduate in 2025, the same year that the Chinese economy is projected to overtake ours as the largest in the world. Only 50 percent of American high school students study a world language, and 70 percent of those simply take one year of introductory Spanish.
- The number of school offering Chinese grew 200 percent between 2005 and 2008, and 2,400 U.S. high schools expressed interest in offering the Advanced Placement courses in Mandarin when it was first announced.
- One out of eight Oregonians is involved in international trade. High-tech companies, which are the third largest employer in Oregon, are internationally based. In 2008, Oregon exports to China soared 73 percent, to $1.4 billion, catapulting China to the rank of Oregon¡¯s No. 2 foreign customer, behind Canada, according to the World Institute for Strategic Economic Research.
¡°If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language - that goes to his heart.¡± -- Nelson Mandela, Former President of South Africa
