South Africa: Maths is the subject that needs our attention, not Mandarin

In 2015 Minister of Basic Education, Angie Motshekga recently announced that Chinese Mandarin would be added to the SA school curriculum as a second language option for students in grades 4 to 9. Her reasoning alluded to China’s importance as a key trading partner with an assertion that learning Chinese would strengthen ties between the two countries. Motshekga’s decision was no doubt bolstered by an assumption about the growing importance of Mandarin as a global language of business in correlation with the rise of the Chinese economy. This logic goes hand in hand with the argument that children who learn Chinese today will have a competitive edge in future.

It is unfortunate that the hype around the rise of China is coupled with thinking that Chinese mandarin can achieve the same global level of influence as English. This is a misplaced notion mainly because it ignores history. English has an immense head start over Chinese as the British Empire started imposing English on its subjects across the world as early as the 16th century. Following the end of colonialism and empire, English speaking business from the United States and Britain continued to influence former colonies determining their modern economic characteristics. English remains the most important and influential business language across the world and in Africa, and Chinese is unlikely to unseat it.

The argument that Mandarin will give learners an edge in the global economy is also without much merit. Chinese Mandarin for non-Chinese is unlikely to open up many career opportunities outside of China. And even in China, Chinese citizens will remain the preferred employees for companies operating in that country. Outside of China, interactions with Chinese companies are likely to be with Chinese businessmen who are quite articulate in the English language, like Jack Ma, and are used to working in a diverse environment where English is the neutral language of communication.  In a cosmopolitan world, English is the more useful language. 

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Of the projected top ten economies in 2030 (US Department of Agriculture), four (the USA, India, United Kingdom and Canada) count English as the language of work and business, as well as an official language. Of the top 20 economies, English is the most widely-spoken language in at least 17 – that’s 85%. When it comes to multilateral institutions English is once again the key working language, including in Asian regional blocs like the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Even on the part of developing closer ties between the two nations, the argument for Chinese at primary and secondary level falls flat. South Africa already has institutional cooperation between our universities and six of China’s Confucius Institutes. It is also at university level where learning Mandarin can be most relevant from a strategic career perspective, when students are well informed about what they want to do and can acquire the skills that would allow them to work in most places in the world. Here Chinese mandarin can be an augmentation to in-demand skills such as engineering, finance and technology.  The effort of introducing Mandarin could go to improving our education in the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields which will give students the edge in the 21st century.  South African education is not doing well in maths and science which does not bode well for the future of our economy. A report by the OECD ranked South Africa second to last only ahead of Ghana, in a global survey of maths and science looking at 76 countries.

What is the Global Business Language?

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In the sphere of innovation, a central pillar of the 21st century economy, English remains the supreme language of communication. According to an article in the Harvard Business Review, the English speaking mind has been the target market for the worlds ‘biggest advancements from coding to typing.  QWERTY keyboards are designed for the Roman alphabet and cannot accommodate the many characters required for fluent Mandarin. As a result of the QWERTY keyboard, the world’s top ten programming languages are also English-based.

With the ubiquitous nature of English in innovative fields it should be not much of a surprise that about 1.5 billion people around the world are clamouring to learn the language. This number is expected to grow beyond 2 billion by the end of the decade. Corporations in non-English speaking countries are also investing in English as the common mode of communication across their global hubs. Companies like Airbus (France), Rakuten (Japanese ecommerce firm), Renault (France), and Samsung (South Korea) have adopted English as the corporate language.

With innovation, particularly of the technological kind becoming the most critical part of global economic competitiveness; science and maths will be the most important languages of the 21st century. The principles of science and maths remain the same whether one is in Bangkok or Bangalore, Manhattan or Maseru. We must invest in the in the STEM fields to remain relevant in the 21st century. STEM education will be a key enabler for Africa to fulfil its objectives of industrialisation and beneficiating its natural resources, and finding solutions to its own problems. 

Originally published on the africapractice blog here: http://www.africapractice.com/blogposts/page/16/?id=12522