Tom Watkins: "Global Businesses of the Future Require Global Students”

Tom Watkins, former Michigan State Superintendent of Schools, has serveral articles online related to the need for more Mandarin programs.

In his interview at Ednews titled "Global Businesses of the Future Require Global Students" he says:

If we wait until business school to educate our students about the global economy we will have missed the boat. It is not just the "business schools" that should be preparing our students for the transformational, disruptive, hyper-competitive, global, knowledge economy. We need to understand that in this "flat world" all commerce is global. We need parents, students and our K-12 schools to understand that the world has changed in dramatic ways and if we as individuals, families, states and a nation do not simply change -- but lead change -- we will get run over.

Let me assure you, having traveled to Asia, specifically China, a number of times since 1989, they are not sitting idly by as we get our act together in America. Their desire for high quality education is on steroids. The Chinese, and the other billions of new global consumers and capitalists in Russia, Brazil, India and other emerging nations, are seeking their equivalent of the "American Dream."

We live in a time of constant change. Each day brings advances and discoveries in science, technology and math as well as major shifts in global economics and new challenges to every citizen and community.

Our future – those who will live in this ever-changing world -- is sitting in our classrooms today. The viability of our society, the strength of our economy, the quality of our lives, the vibrancy of our democracy, and our place in the world, all depend on our system of public education from Pre-K, under grad, graduate school and life long learning.

We all need to be acting with a sense of urgency, imagination, and creativity, with a sense of purpose, to make our nation the brain bank of the world where everyone wants to come for deposits and withdrawals.

In his article "Great teachers - opens eyes to China/Tibet" he opens:

Great teachers plant seeds that you can harvest for a lifetime. My fourth grade teacher planted seeds about the people, culture and history of China and forty-four years later I am still enjoying the fruit.

My fascination with all things China has enabled me to continue learning throughout my life and to be present as history was unfolding within its borders. My first trip to China coincided with the buildup to the massacre in Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989....

And in his article "It's a small world after all" he says:

In business, it is critical that more of our students learn Mandarin Chinese if we are going to thrive economically. I have learned, through more than a dozen trips to China, that they are serious about recovering their past glory and becoming the economic superpower of this century.

One-fifth of the world's population lives in China. There are more English speakers in China than English speakers in America. Mandarin Chinese has surpassed English as the most used language on the Internet. It is not unusual to have Chinese kindergarten students greet you in English and high school students be fluent in English and Chinese. How many students in your community can do the same?

 

Comments

[burberry bag]

Mandarin Chinese has surpassed English as the most used language on the Internet. It is not unusual to have Chinese kindergarten students greet you in English and high school students be fluent in English and Chinese.

[louboutin]

In business, it is critical that more of our students learn Mandarin Chinese if we are going to thrive economically.

[oakley sale]

In business, it is critical that more of our students learn Mandarin Chinese if we are going to thrive economically.