news day: the "red scare hysteria"

Teaching and Learning at YK Pao School 2, originally uploaded by YK Pao School.

I'm going to take a break from blogging about my life. Today was far too difficult to describe. I'm exhausted. Here's the news:

Former Hacienda La Puente Unified Schools superintendent John Kramer said his Southern California district turned down being a part of the Confucius Classroom network. "The objection was not to the teaching of a foreign language," says Kramer. "The problem here was the culture portion and the involvement with the Chinese government."

Kramer says concerned community members worried about "communist propaganda" being taught in schools. Gahanna-Jefferson mom Mandy Aldis doesn't understand the communism fears. Aldis moved within the Gahanna-Jefferson school boundaries specifically for the district's Chinese language program. "We feel very lucky that we have this. I say it's just like math, English, art—it's as important as anything else," she says.

Her son, Andrew Aldis, says that taking Chinese expands his cultural understanding of the most populous nation on the planet, and it's expanding his career opportunities. "I'd have potential to get a job doing translating or interpreting, maybe work for the State Department," he says.

[via GOOD]