Youtube: Rep. Richardson on HB 3628 and SJR 50

If HB 3628 and SJR 50 turn out to be the first steps in developing significant K-12 Mandarin and study abroad in China programs for students across Oregon, then, in the long sweep of history, those two bills will be seen as the most significant accomplishments of the 2010 legislative session.

Both bills passed both legislative houses unanimously. Authorizing the Superintendent of Public Instruction to coordinate bringing Mandarin teachers from China may seem like a minor administrative matter. But the rise of China is a big deal, an historical game changer. Marking the beginning of a thoughtful, peaceful, self-interested response by Oregon, or the US as a whole, to that rise will be seen in the future as a significant historical event.

Consider Representative Dennis Richardson’s summing up floor statement:

 “We would be wise as a people to have close economic ties, close cultural ties, educational ties, and close relationships with what will soon be the most powerful nation, other than the United States, in the world. One way that we will accomplish that is by promoting education among our youth… …We need to work with the younger generation, Americans in their education system, and Oregonians in our schools, to help assure that they have the opportunity to learn Chinese, to learn about the Chinese culture, and to have an opportunity, maybe, to even be an exchange student to a Chinese school, family or university….”