How are we going to communicate with the Chinese in terms of trade and technology?
We need to stop and look at reality. China is on the rise. Chinese is the most spoken language in the world. Chinese/Mandarin is the most used language on the Internet. There are more people who can speak English in China than there are English speaking people in America. These facts do not bode well for our future. We must realize that the world is changing and we must race to catch up — especially when it comes to being able to understand and communicate with other people in their language. Learning a language, any language, is beneficial. However, just look at the numbers, be it populations or any economic statistic, and the reality should be like a cold shower that wakes one up about the value of learning Mandarin Chinese. At my urging, Brooks Patterson, Michigan’s Oakland County Executive (of the second largest county in the state and the fourth wealthiest county in America), called for all Oakland County Schools to teach Chinese. Under the leadership of Vicki Markavitch, the Oak
