Testimony: Oregon Senate Committee on Education and General Government: 2/13/08

Testimony of Dave Porter
Before
Oregon Senate Committee on Education and General Government
2/13/08

Chair Walker and members of the Committee, my name is Dave Porter. I am retired, live in Southeast Portland and represent only myself. I am an advocate for more Mandarin and study abroad programs in China for Oregon public school students. For the K-12 educational system, I have proposed as goals for Oregon that, by the year 2015, 5% or more of Oregon students graduating from high school have studied Mandarin for at least two academic years (more years and fluency would be better) and have spent at least four weeks in China. I have written each of you many times on this issue.

For today’s hearing, I want to urge you to take action on five points related to economic growth in Asia and the K-12 educational system:

(1) Please hold a legislative hearing on economic growth and change in Asia: Economic growth and change in Asia are, as former Harvard President Larry Summers has said, “the most important things to happen during our lifetimes.” Yet, to date and to my knowledge, the Oregon Legislature has not held even one informational hearing on change and economic growth in Asia. As a high priority, the Oregon Legislature should gather information on and think through what such economic growth and change in Asia, especially in China, means for Oregon’s future. Please hold at least one hearing as soon as possible. Ask Oregon’s academic and business experts on Asia to brief you on what is happening in Asia and what it means for Oregon’s future. My attachment “Economic Growth in China: One Possible Scenario” (not available online)is one example of what you might then hear. In it I have updated and revised a National Bureau of Economic Research working paper from June, 2007. It predicts that China’s economy will be twice the size of the US economy by 2040 and three times the size of the US economy by 2050. This is, of course, just one informed guess, subject to many contingencies and based on a growth rate China may not be able to sustain. You should get other opinions in an organized and public fashion.

But consider now what a foreign economic market twice or three times the size of the US market just across the Pacific Ocean from Oregon would mean. Consider what economic opportunities, and challenges, it would present. And consider what challenges it would present to our national security and to the peace and stability of the international system. Without thinking these considerations through now, neither you nor the general public can understand the priority, the scale, and the urgency of the changes we need to make in our educational system today. Our next generations will live in a very different economic and geopolitical world. A five year old starting in a Mandarin immersion program this year will be only 37 in 2040 and only 47 in 2050. Please think what skills they will need to survive and thrive.

(2) Please fund a statewide process to promote more Mandarin in Oregon's public schools: Many more Oregon students should become fluent in Mandarin. Currently less than 1% of Oregon public school K-12 students study Mandarin. There is some small growth in programs each year, but Oregon is unlikely to reach 2% soon. To begin an effort to reach 5%, Oregon needs a statewide process to promote and plan for more Mandarin programs. Oregon needs a bill such as HB 2763 was during the last session. It would have allocated $350,000 to promote, plan for and develop Mandarin programs statewide. Another effort, the “Oregon Roadmap to Foreign Language Excellence” developed by the University of Oregon’s Center for Applied Second Language Studies, calls for creation of an Office of Language Acquisition to promote and develop foreign language programs in Oregon. While not specifically promoting Mandarin, this and the other components of the Oregon Roadmap are good ideas and would move Oregon forward.

(3) Please allocate $1.5 million for start-up costs of five new Mandarin immersion programs. Mandarin is the official language of China. It is a second language for many Chinese. But it is a difficult language. The Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California, divides the languages they teach into four groups, from easiest to most difficult, as measured by the number of hours of instruction required to bring students to a certain level of proficiency. Mandarin is in Group IV, the most difficult, along with Arabic, Japanese, and Korean. They estimate it takes 1320 hours of instruction for a student reach a level 2 speaking proficiency. For Spanish, a Group I language, 480 hours of instruction are required to reach the same speaking proficiency level. We also know that languages are best learned as young as possible, through immersion, and through spending time in a culture that speaks the language. We have in Portland the national model of a Mandarin program that begins in kindergarten and immerses the student half day in Mandarin. While our schools should offer multiple entry points to the study of Mandarin, if we want to graduate Mandarin proficient students from high school, we need to duplicate
Portland’s national model Mandarin immersion program in additional school districts in Oregon. For $1.5 million the Oregon Legislature could fund the start-up of five additional Mandarin immersion programs (one for each congressional district) at $300,000 each.

(4) Please develop, and pass legislation if necessary for, a statewide program to send many more high school students to study abroad. Without additional costs, Oregon could send many more high school students to study abroad. In my attachment “High School Study Abroad Scholarship Program” I have outlined the main concepts of a program that could send many more students to study abroad without additional costs to the state or school districts. Once such a funding mechanism is in place, the Department of Education, school districts and others could develop additional programs that fit within its financial constraints. Note that there are some existing Oregon based study abroad programs ready to go.

(5)Please create a ten year, $50 million summer programs that send high school students to study abroad in  China. Oregon needs to develop a program to send 5% of each class (5% is now about 1,650) to study for one month every summer in China. They would attend small language schools and live with Chinese families. The program would be a “take a year of high school Mandarin and go to China for a summer month” program.” It would serve as an incentive for students to take Mandarin, would teach them Mandarin and expose them to Chinese culture, and would provide a short study abroad experience as a trial before going for an academic year. For $5 million Oregon could send 1,650 students for one month of study in China. I had originally proposed that Oregon’s business and civic leaders create a non-profit organization to raise funds and operate this program. I have not been successful in getting their interest. However funded, Oregon needs such a program. I think a world class business and civic community understanding the changes taking place in the global economy and wanting to make Oregon a vital hub in it should see the wisdom in making this program a priority. Perhaps the legislature can persuade them or find another way.

Let me end with the closing words Representative Dennis Richardson and I closed with in our proposal “Developing the China Connection through Educational Programs” to the Oregon Business Plan in November, 2006:

“If the goals suggested, and the associated costs, seem high, ask yourself the question: what if we do not do at least this much? What if we just let the Chinese language courses grow at their natural pace with a few more students here and there, with only a few more college students trickling over to study abroad in China? What price will pay for not having the robust business and business idea connections to China that can fuel our economy? What costs will Oregon’s society pay for not having the broad and deep understanding of China that could help build world political stability throughout the twenty-first century? We can do less, but it will not take Oregon, or the US, either far enough or fast enough. Oregon over time will be missing opportunity after opportunity in the market. We could become a backwater rather than a major center in the global economy. And we could miss opportunities for world peace and stability. Much is at stake, possibly everything if we get China wrong. We need to put a lot of eager, learning students on the ground all over China now. It could be the primary learning opportunity, responsibility and adventure of their lifetimes. It is up to you, our leadership, to enable them to have this vital, international preparation.

 

We as Oregonians can step forward, act boldly and with vision. Our children and their children will live in a very different world. We need to help them create their future. There are many contemporary crises (the Middle East, North Korea, terrorists, pandemics) but the central strategic and security issue of the 21stcentury will be the emergence of China as a world power and how the US and China relate to each other. If these two great powers can get along, many other problems are solvable. If not, nuclear war and societal chaos are not impossible. If we fail to act as boldly as we can-- breaking a few educational, geopolitical and funding mindsets—-future generations will stand in wonder at our failure. History sets hard standards and will not be kind to us or to our children if we fail. We in Oregon have an historic opportunity to act on the stage of world history. Few get such an opportunity. With vision, resolution and cooperation, let us seize this opportunity and meet the challenges of the twenty-first century.”

Thank you for the opportunity to testify before you today. I would be happy to answer any questions.

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