"You can’t sell goods from America to China without being able to speak Chinese…"

Yesterday (2/8/10) the Oregon House unanimously passed HB 3628A (here) and the Senate Education and General Government Committee unanimously passed out SJR 50 with a do adopt recommendation. Both measures relate to expanding Mandarin programs in Oregon.

SJR (Senate Joint Resolution) 50 reads:

Whereas the State of Oregon has a sister state agreement with Fujian Province in the People's Republic of China; and

Whereas the City of Portland has a sister city agreement with Suzhou in the People's Republic of China; and

Whereas the People's Republic of China is Oregon's second-largest trading partner, with $2.469 billion in exports in 2008; and

Whereas over 900 million people on earth are native speakers of Chinese, making Chinese the largest spoken language in the world; and

Whereas the next generation of Oregonians would benefit from having a working knowledge of the Chinese language and culture to increase their opportunities in the growing global economy; and

Whereas Portland State University and the University of Oregon have been designated Confucius Institutes and are prepared to assist interested Oregon public schools in applying for and establishing Confucius Classrooms on all interested elementary and secondary school campuses; now, therefore,

Be It Resolved by the Legislative Assembly of the State of Oregon:

That we, the members of the Seventy-fifth Legislative Assembly, in special legislative session assembled, request the Superintendent of Public Instruction to encourage Chinese language study by promoting establishment of Confucius Classrooms in Oregon public schools and other nonprofit language programs dedicated to providing Oregon students and interested adults opportunities to learn the Chinese language.

Senator Chris Edwards, Representative Dennis Richardson and Representative Jules Bailey presented SJR 50 to the Senate Education and General Government Committee. I’ve, in what follows, excerpted some of what each one said before the committee.

Senator Chris Edwards:

…. It is quite difficult to find Chinese Mandarin language learning programs in the state of Oregon. Yet Chinese is the most spoken language on the planet. China, as you know, has 1.4 billion people and growing, and is  projected to be the largest economy in the world by the year 2030. And I think it time for Oregonians to start to think about what we are doing to prepare ourselves to work with a rising nation….

Representative Dennis Richardson: 

…. Oregon stands in a unique position to be a gateway to the Orient. And one thing that we need to do is to help make sure our students are participating in this change that is taking place in this century, and so we need to make sure they have the opportunity to learn the Chinese language. We can buy goods from China without speaking Chinese. We can go and arrange for them to manufacture our goods and ship them back to us, but you can’t sell goods from America to China without being able to speak Chinese…

Representative Jules Bailey, initially speaking of HB 3628A:

 …. On the floor today, that companion piece passed unanimously out of the House. And we are looking forward to sending a strong signaling effect both to our partners abroad as well as to schools across Oregon that this is an area where we feel Oregon is poised to have a unique advantage and a competitive role in the global economy…

…. That this is a direction that we are interested in pursuing, and that we believe Mandarin education is going to be an important part of our future….

Members of the committee also made remarks. I’ve noted parts of several of their comments as follows:

Senator Frank Morse, after explaining that his daughter, now married and living in Taiwan, learned Mandarin starting with a tutor while in high school:

…. I have long recognized the importance of language instruction. And, we’re woefully deficient in this state and the nation…  …We just heard today from the state economist that China is our largest trading partner… … It’s an important issue…

Senator Suzanne Bonamici:

Such a small piece, however. I spent a lot of time years ago studying the benefits of early language learning for young students, and believe that students in Oregon should be studying a second language. I understand the reasons for providing Chinese over other languages, but the learning benefits that accrue go beyond….

…. Language immersion programs cost a little bit of extra money to get started, but once they get started, it doesn’t require an additional teacher, only a bilingual teacher. I’m a strong supporter of more language immersion programs….

…. I encourage school boards to look at some of the language programs that exist in the few areas where they do. Because you’ll find that most language immersion programs that exist in public schools in Oregon have waiting lists and lotteries to get in. That shows you something about the demand. The demand is definitely there.