At least a dozen of Vermont’s 284 school districts have started teaching Chinese language classes and sometimes Asian Studies classes too. Even so, experience with Chinese in public schools is very new, as all the Vermont programs were started within the last 10 years.
Funding to launch the programs was provided by the Freeman Foundation of Stowe, and it includes foreign language and exchange opportunities, opening students to experiences that they simply would not have had otherwise. Students have been exposed not only to the culture and main language of China (Mandarin), but also to the fastest-growing economy in the world, and the educational system behind it.
Zhihang Hao has taught Chinese at Burlington High School for the last 10 years. He says that the reason that many public schools across the country are offering Chinese has a lot to do with opportunities for young people in a competitive global economy: “China is definitely playing a more important role in economics. The U.S. really needs students who can speak Chinese to meet the needs of the future.”
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