[Dick Bachert]

Proving yet again that whom God would destroy, he first makes INSANE!!

[SWAMPSNIPER]

Good, maybe they will do better with Chinese than they do with English!

[Future Snake Eater]

most of whom are busy learning a much easier language: ENGLISH!!

As I understand it, English is pretty high on the list of Most Difficult Languages To Learn.

[Cagey]

Yea, we don't want some of our kids learning Chinese because they might go forward and get a job with the CIA, Military, Big Business or some kind of other un-American occupation.

I vote we teach them Latin!

[freedumb2003]

This isn't a zero sum game.

I think this is a good idea. Kids do bettr absorbing lanugages than us calcified oldsters.

Chinese kids don't seem to have a problem with the way Chinese works.

I wish someone would have taught me Chinese. Believe me, in the new world coming it will be much more important than Spanish.

[Drango]

I learned French in school.

[Anti-Bubba182]

It's a good thing for us that the Chinese cling to their screwy alphabet. It reduces their efficiency for a lot of things where they could better compete with us.

[Altair333]

Talk about an exercise in futility- Spanish is a comparatively simple language and most of the kids in my high school second-year Spanish class could barely speak it at all.

[MikefromOhio]

ummm actually English is the hardest language to learn.

English is the ONLY language were you can say EXACTLY what you wish to say.

chinese is hard because of the graphic nature of the written language, but the spoken language is not that hard to learn.

the problem here is that those kids are still learning ENGLISH, which SHOULD be the priority. It's much harder to master.

[DaughterofEve]

Chinese is taught in 1st grade in many schools in NY.

[LibFreeOrDie]

Haven't you heard? Chinese nannies are THE latest fad for affluent Manhattan families:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1556209/posts

[martin_fierro]

It's Greek to me.

[Clemenza]

Yeah, typical American. Wants EVERYBODY to learn English, but G-d forbid our own kids learn a foreign language. Sheesh!

[steveo]

SHOCKED! SHOCKED AM I! I'll fire off an email to Condoleezza Rice and see what she thinks!

[RightWhale]

Chinese has 40 characters and is one of the easiest languages there is. English is considered difficult.

[VadeRetro]

They're probably learning the Pin-Yin romanization, which uses the English alphabet. Does that assuage your worries?

[isom35]

they are learning the language of their future masters :)

[buccaneer81]

Think about this: KNOW THINE ENEMY.

[Alter Kaker]

Proving yet again that whom God would destroy, he first makes INSANE!!

I'm confused. Chinese is an extremely useful language to learn, and it is increasingly so. What's wrong with learning it? It'll give these kids a huge competitive edge in applying for all kinds of employment.

[free_at_jsl.com]

I read somewhere a long time ago that the odds of a child attending a university more than doubled if they spoke more than one language. More education is never a bad thing. Learning Chinese could benefit OUR government too -- after all, the NSA needs people fluent in all languages.

JSL

[toddlintown]

Hope they can read "Brown Spots on the Wall" by Hu Flung Poo.