QUOTE(百年大计 教育为本 @ 2009年04月01日 Wednesday, 12:12 AM)
bee, do you think it a good practice to remove the english subject into a selected course in China?
is english a must for all the students in China?
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Personally, I think it's not a good idea.
Currently, English is the most popular language in the world. China is a developing country and it is much open to the world now. There are many business and investments are dealing with other countries. As a result, there are many chances English can be used in China. Although not everyone will need to use English, you will regret when you need to use it. I believe most people will not choose to study English if it becomes as a selective course. Everyone knows learning English is not easy.
The other reason I don't support English becomes a selective course in China is to improve English capability as a whole to make China more competitive. This will make China a better competitive market and business environment for foreign investors. China can be a great competitor with India, Thailand and other south east countries for cheaper labor. There are many US companies were outsourcing their manufacture and business support line to either India or China to lower their operation costs. I think English communication is one of their major considerations to choose the country. Most of the time when I called the Dell customer support, I was talking to someone in India, not someone in the US. According to "Did you know, Shift Happen", India's college graduates are 100% speak English and China will become the number one English speaking country in the world in 10 years. So, if there are more people speak English in China, China will become more competitive.
I highly recommend everyone to watch the below clip when you have a chance. This is a version in 2006. There are many newer versions now.
http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMjY0NDEzOTY=.html
[flash]http://player.youku.com/player.php/sid/XMjY0NDEzOTY=/v.swf[/flash]