This is a major initiative in the second largest school district in the U.S. It moves the learning of Mandarin and other languages to a much higher priority. Currently, high school graduation requirements only require two years of a language and there are only about 1,000 students currently learning Mandarin. Now, "all students, regardless of their home language, should be provided with the opportunity to study at least one language, in addition to English, beginning in elementary grades and continuing their study sequence for 6 to 8 years in order to achieve a high level of proficiency."

The Committee of 100 (C-100), through the efforts of Stewart Kwoh and all of the L.A. Area C-100 members, was duly noted in the resolution in its leadership role to convene a Mandarin in Schools Committee. That initiated this process close to one and a half years ago. Finally the resolution indicates that the district will work with the C-100 and the Mandarin in Schools Committee to "build community, parent, and student support for Mandarin programs and Chinese culture classes in the schools of the District."

Read the Full Resolution Here.

The Mandarin in Schools Committee will also be "a partner with the district in the recruitment of Mandarin teachers and the promotion of the program" It welcomed and supported the addition of other languages but the committee feels Mandarin will be of the two most popular languages.

The Mandarin in Schools Committee will be continuing to work to recruit new teachers and promote the program.

The Committee of 100 also like to acknowledge C-100 members, Leslie Tang Schilling for her leadership of C-100’s Asian/Asian American Education Initiative, as well as C-100 member, H. Roger Wang & Vivine Wang for their generous support towards the initiative’s efforts.