Term 3 Week 4 (Blogging Assignment)

Read the following Newsweek article, How to Raise a Global Kid, byLisa Miller (July 18, 2011)

http://www.newsweek.com/2011/07/17/american-kids-immersed-in-chinese-asian-education.print.html

What is the main argument Jim Rogers is trying to make in this article? Do you agree with his argument? Justify.

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Firstly, I feel that this world is gradually evolving, when one wants to be able to survive in this society, one must gain it by proving stronger than others; also, I think that children should be bilingual as this promotes cooperation with not just nationally but internationally. Nowadays, America is not the best of everything anymore, countries in the eastern regions are catching up. For example, people in China or even India have many business opportunities and their wealth is increasing rapidly. In order to be adequately prepared for the globalized world we are in, the children of the 21st Century must start to be exposed to foreign people, foreign languages, and foreign lands. Firstly, I must let you know that America is no longer the big boss of everything. They are in debts and are trying really hard just to survive. Thus, although English is the universal language, one should learn more just in case one day America falls. If the adults of the future wants to have an advantage in the society, they better start working on finding out about different cultures and languages. They might lose their working opportunity by just saying the wrong thing.

I agree to a certain extent what Jim Rogers said. Nowadays, China is like the king of goods in almost every country. When you go shopping, there would be at least one good which has a 'Made in China' tag. As you can see, the goods made in china are popular mainly because it is cheaper. However, this may not be true as recently, China has created many 'fake' goods for example the baby powder. The input of dangerous ingredients just to make the baby powder taste better has given many babies throughout the world food poisoning. This case has made many lose the trust of China and now China goods are being known as 'Cheap Goods'. The sales rate will obviously drop but it is still very high. When one wants to go far, he must work together with people of all kinds. In this case, many countries has industrialized and language is definitely a barrier between them. Thus, it is definitely better to know an extra language to break this barrier. However, language is not that easy to learn. I take myself as a personal example. I have learnt Chinese and English since young and I am able to practise both while communicating. In fact, I am using English skills to write this blog post! I have tried learning a 3rd language several times, for example Thai and Japanese. However I failed to do so as none of my family members speak either languages. I may know the simple nouns but is it really enough?. We cannot forsee the economic growth of the East in comparison with the West. Even if Asian powers are not evident in the future, having an extra language in your communication arsenal is definitely an added advantage.It is better to have it safe than to have it as a regret. Thus when the future generations are born, start exposing them to foreign cultures as it may help them in the future society. Schools nowadays are promoting good racial relations and I think that it will help a lot in my future life.