Sometimes the elite behaves so stupidly that one wonders how they got to be the "elite" in the first place.
Regards, Ivan
Posted on 04/02/2005 3:29:18 PM PST by MadIvan
AMBITIOUS New Yorkers are rearing a generation of “little emperors” fluent in Mandarin so they will be equipped for a global economy that may come to be dominated by China.
Chinese nannies who can bring up bilingual babies are sought after in Manhattan, and nursery schools are adding the language to their curriculums.
Jim Rogers and Paige Parker are the parents of Hilton Augusta, a 22-month-old blonde, blue-eyed girl. She already understands as much Mandarin as English after her parents hired a Chinese nanny. Their apartment is decorated with words for objects such as table and chair in English and Chinese script.
“China is going to be the next great country in the world,” said Rogers, a writer and banker. “We thought we should start to prepare her at birth for what will be the most important language in her lifetime.”
Finding the right nanny took weeks. She had to speak the kind of Mandarin heard in government circles in Beijing. Clifford Greenhouse runs the Pavillion nanny agency in New York. “There’s been a tremendous surge in demand. We get dozens of requests a year. It is extremely hard to find the right, well-educated, cultured Mandarin speaker,” he said.
Many of the requests come from families of mixed Chinese and American parentage or from parents who have adopted girls from China.
But a good third are from parents who hope to give their children a leg-up in the globalised world. Rogers and Parker plan to enrol Hilton Augusta in St Hilda’s and St Hugh’s, a private nursery and elementary school in Manhattan, which is adding Mandarin to its curriculum in September.
Virginia Connor, the headmistress, said the classes would begin with toddlers. “We’ve been asking ourselves what will children need, not just five or 10 years ahead, but a long way into the future.”
Hilton Augusta will be more prepared than most. Her parents have booked a holiday in Shanghai this summer to reinforce what she has learnt and to familiarise herself with the culture.
Rogers said: “I’m pleased and proud that one day my daughter will be talking about us with her friends and we won’t know what she is saying.”
Parker admits to misgivings about being excluded from what will be an important part of Hilton Augusta’s life. “I do worry about it a little but the benefits outweigh any uncomfortableness I feel.”
Sometimes the elite behaves so stupidly that one wonders how they got to be the "elite" in the first place.
Regards, Ivan
Ping!
What is "idiots who have more money than sense" in Mandarin?
Smart New York kids CHU on Mandarin.
The best a mother or father can teach their children is to not have them raised by a nanny to begin with. That transcends all languages.
The Chinese of influence, whom Westerners will be dealing with, will already know English (and speak it better than we can speak Mandarin). However, learning to speak Chinese isn't a bad thing either.
ROTFL
For a toddler that's not even two?!
If the historical experience with Latin in Medieval Europe is any guide, English should continue to dominate for centuries, regardless of the fortunes of the Anglosphere countries.
And then there's India, where there will soon be more people than in China, and where English is the "language of wider communication."
English is a lot easier to master for Europeans, and for speakers of Spanish--yet another reason to doubt that Chinese will be all that influential anytime soon.
Finally, the same sort of false predictions were made for Japanese 20 years ago--which sound laughable now. I predict this article will be viewed the same way in 2025.
I also question them calling her Hilton. But that's just me.
Regards, Ivan
Beat me to it! These parents seem a little ... off.
One notes that she is being taught not just Chinese, but
the language of the leading Cadres, one could surmise that
her parents have an agenda.
YUPPIES
Amazing, isn't it? Most kids don't even remember all that much before the age of three or four, anyway. With both of my kids, when I brought up things we had done with them when they were very young, they couldn't even remember them. Said to the wife, Look at all the money we could have saved!
Good point.
Shell most likely be talking bout the drug habit or eating disorder from her idiot pop putting too much pressure on her
I think the term for these sorts of parents is Bobos (See http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0684853787/102-7602633-5439322), which is the latest label for those who follow in the footsteps of the yuppies. One of the primary concerns of bobos is to educate their kids to be as rich and successful as possible. They are devastated if their progeny don't get into Harvard or Yale, starting out with an elite Manhattan pre-kindergarten. Like this family, they probably only have one kid, or maybe two.
It's not a bad thing to want your kid to do well in life, but their view is extremely materialistic. Do well = be rich and successful.
After he was saddened by the death of his closest friend, Saint Augustine concluded that it was not wise to love those things that fade away as if they were eternal. Only God abides forever.
I guess the writer missed the article about the smartest babies are brought up learning sign language as their second language.
I think this is a case of "my baby is smarter than your baby because..."
Jim Rogers' Home Truths
Jim Rogers on a Three-Year Millennium World Tour
Letters from the Global Province
It's the End of the World as We Know It..but it feels fine!
The list goes on and on and on
around here (the central valley of california) the real money is made by speaking Hmong and Laotian.. translators are desperately needed to accomodate the influx..
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.