In bold if not surprising news, last week Swedish Education Minister Jan Björklund called for Chinese language to be taught in all primary and secondary schools, which would make Sweden a first in Europe.
On one hand, this is a forward-thinking proposal in light of China’s growing global profile. Those of us in Asia Society’s Education department certainly support the introduction of Chinese language programs for students beginning at an early age.
Björklund’s announcement and rationale, however, gives us a reason to revisit a number of issues related to sustainability and longevity of language programs in schools.
“Not everyone in the business world speaks English,” Björklund notes. “Very highly qualified activities are leaving Europe to move to China. Chinese will be much more important from an economic point of view than French or Spanish.”
We should ask ourselves: Is the economics argument — or any one argument, for that matter — a safe bet for language-learning proponents?
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