За Капитализм, Демократию, и Мир -- Учите Иностранные Языки!

The Sioux Falls School District sees the global economy coming and wants its kids to be able to compete in it: In 2009, one Sioux Falls elementary school will offer 70 minutes a week foreign-language instruction to every student. In addition, parents will be able to sign their kids up for foreign-language immersion training starting in kindergarten.

Assistant Superintendent of Schools Fred Aderhold explains why this program is a good idea:

Our world is smaller. For the kids leaving school in the year 2020, there's going to be a more global market and global economy. Globalization has brought us closer together in the international community. We have to think about pandemic flu, global warming. We might think about terrorism. All of those are global issues that it's going to take an international community to solve. Another reason is simply for the cognitive growth. Students that study languages perform better on college entrance exams in verbal studies. There's some evidence kids that study languages think better creatively and have better skills in problem solving and analytical thinking. [Jon Walker, "Goals: Enhance Learning, Prepare for Global Market," that Sioux Falls paper, 2007.12.23]

Sibby will see globalists under the bed here, but Aderhold and the district get it: foreign language training is good for brains and for bucks. When kids study a second language, they get better in their first language. They also have that many more people (in the case of Chinese, over a billion more people) to whom they can say "Let's make a deal."

South Dakota isn't the only state lagging in foreign language education. The Education Commission of the States says that only Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, and the District of Columbia require foreign language training of all high school graduates. If more South Dakota school districts would follow Sioux Falls's lead, we might carve ourselves an extra competitive advantage in drawing international commerce (sorry, Mike: "no income tax" obviously isn't doing it).

Business and democracy (and -- dare I suggest it? -- peace) are built on communication.
The more people we can talk to -- and listen to -- in their own words, the better.