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Let’s teach Mandarin
• THE wastage of scarce educational resources by teaching children the Somali language to GCSE standard represents a step backwards.
Schools play (or ought to play) an important role in integrating and assimilating the children of immigrants into the British way of life. All children in Camden, whatever their racial or religious background, will benefit from acquiring a high standard of spoken and written English. The ability to speak good English becomes more pressing in the 21st-century global economy. We cannot afford to indulge narrow parochialism. I have recently returned from Beijing where I was impressed to discover Chinese people pride themselves on their fluency and command of English. Chinese businessmen phoning London will speak in English and expect a reply in English.
All children in Camden would be at a greater advantage from learning Mandarin rather than African languages. There are 47,021 characters to master, so it would be a good idea to start as young as possible.
MAGNUS NIELSON
Finchley Road, NW3
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