Newark Advocate – Chad Klimack
“More than 900 million people speak Mandarin, making it the world’s most-spoken language, a fact not lost on Licking Heights Local Schools officials. The district started offering Mandarin Chinese at its high school in January 2012, and only 14 students signed up for the initial offering. Flash forward to the current 2015-16 school year, and the district now offers four Mandarin Chinese foreign language courses, starting in its middle school. In addition, a whopping 300 students are enrolled in the courses…Considering the number of people who speak Mandarin around the world, in addition to China’s economic clout, Licking Heights Superintendent Philip Wagner said it made sense for Heights to expand the foreign language offering. “We always hear the world has become more globally competitive,” Wagner said. “We’re not doing what we can to better prepare students for that world if we’re not taking into account what the future holds.””(more)