The Bush administration on Thursday proposed spending US$114 million on educational programs to expand the teaching of Arabic, Chinese, Farsi and other languages typically not taught in public schools.
Speaking to more than 100 college and university presidents attending a two-day conference at the State Department, US President George W. Bush said the effort would play a critical role in national security and lead to US students' gaining a better understanding of foreign cultures.
"In order to convince people we care about them, we've got to understand their culture and show them we care about their culture," Bush said. "You know, when somebody comes to me and speaks Texan, I know they appreciate the Texas culture. When somebody takes time to figure out how to speak Arabic, it means they're interested in somebody else's culture."
The administration invited the presidents to discuss issues that affect US college students studying abroad, the number of whom has steadily increased each year, and foreign students attending US universities, whose numbers declined over the last two academic years after nearly five decades of steady gains.
While the conference agenda calls for discussion of visa requirements and how to compete in a global economy, Bush focused on the need to produce more students capable of speaking foreign languages as a key component of national security.
"We need intelligence officers who, when somebody says something in Arabic or Farsi or Urdu, know what they're talking about," he said.
Robert Birgeneau, chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley, said he was among college presidents in Washington last year discussing similar issues with the CIA. He said he left that meeting with the understanding that "their needs are desperate."
Birgeneau said that he appreciated the administration's efforts but, for university presidents, language training for the government is "not our central focus."
Bush said that the administration was "recalibrating the proper balance" between national security and the eagerness of universities to increase the number of foreign students, one of his few points that drew a hearty applause.
Many school officials blame a tightening of restrictions after the terrorist attacks of 2001 for driving away foreign students.
Nina Powell, the assistant secretary of state for education and cultural affairs, told reporters that the process had improved and that 97 percent of applicants now get visas "within a couple of days."
The administration's language proposal, known as the National Security Language Initiative, would create several new programs and build on others, including a Pentagon effort begun three years ago to increase the number of military personnel fluent in languages and familiar with customs in developing nations.
Barry Lowenkron, the assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labor, said a few of the programs might include a commitment to work for the government or the military.
"But it's not like a draft," he said, adding, "We're not setting goals to have X number of people in Y years. The goal is to start building capacity."
He said that only 44 percent of US high school students are studying any foreign language.
Four people jailed in the landmark Hong Kong national security trial of "47 democrats" accused of conspiracy to commit subversion were freed today after more than four years behind bars, the second group to be released in a month. Among those freed was long-time political and LGBTQ activist Jimmy Sham (岑子杰), who also led one of Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy groups, the Civil Human Rights Front, which disbanded in 2021. "Let me spend some time with my family," Sham said after arriving at his home in the Kowloon district of Jordan. "I don’t know how to plan ahead because, to me, it feels
Poland is set to hold a presidential runoff election today between two candidates offering starkly different visions for the country’s future. The winner would succeed Polish President Andrzej Duda, a conservative who is finishing his second and final term. The outcome would determine whether Poland embraces a nationalist populist trajectory or pivots more fully toward liberal, pro-European policies. An exit poll by Ipsos would be released when polls close today at 9pm local time, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points. Final results are expected tomorrow. Whoever wins can be expected to either help or hinder the
North Korea has detained another official over last week’s failed launch of a warship, which damaged the naval destroyer, state media reported yesterday. Pyongyang announced “a serious accident” at Wednesday last week’s launch ceremony, which crushed sections of the bottom of the new destroyer. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called the mishap a “criminal act caused by absolute carelessness.” Ri Hyong-son, vice department director of the Munitions Industry Department of the Party Central Committee, was summoned and detained on Sunday, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported. He was “greatly responsible for the occurrence of the serious accident,” it said. Ri is the fourth person
The collapse of the Swiss Birch glacier serves as a chilling warning of the escalating dangers faced by communities worldwide living under the shadow of fragile ice, particularly in Asia, experts said. Footage of the collapse on Wednesday showed a huge cloud of ice and rubble hurtling down the mountainside into the hamlet of Blatten. Swiss Development Cooperation disaster risk reduction adviser Ali Neumann said that while the role of climate change in the case of Blatten “still needs to be investigated,” the wider impacts were clear on the cryosphere — the part of the world covered by frozen water. “Climate change and
RSS