Chinese language courses offered at Ocean View

* EDITOR’S NOTE: The following is the first in a new, occasional feature providing a forum for officials from the city’s school districts.

Ocean View High School has been selected as the Huntington Beach Union High School District’s top choice for a new Chinese language course. As the magnet school in the district for this course, Ocean View is pleased to offer Chinese as a language option for all students in the district. The school will offer Chinese in two levels, beginning and intermediate. Courses for native speakers or advanced students will be developed as interest grows. This language will complement Ocean View’s current offerings of Spanish and French.

The addition of the Chinese language course will become an important component of Ocean View’s international baccalaureate program, another magnet program within the school district. The international program, headquartered in Geneva, is based on a worldwide standardized curriculum.

The high school also plans to incorporate the use of the Chinese language into its Business Academy. The Business Academy will encourage students to focus on the international business aspects of speaking Chinese. Ocean View and the district are taking this approach in response to the growing importance of China as a trading partner for the United States and its rise as a world power.

According to Liao Xiaoqi, vice commerce minister of China, Sino-U.S. economic and trade relations are among the most important bilateral economic relations in the world. During the 26 years since China and the United States established formal diplomatic relations, their trade volume has grown from $2.5 billion to $169.4 billion. The U.S. is currently the second-largest trade partner of China, while China is the United State’s third-largest.

Ocean View’s Business Academy is positioned to benefit from this new relationship with China, since American businesses regularly see generous returns from investments in China. These investments involve a variety of areas including industrial manufacturing, telecommunications, banking, insurance, science and technology, transportation, agriculture and the catering industry -- all part of the Business Academy’s focus.

Speaking Chinese is important to these opportunities, and Ocean View students will be ready to meet the challenge.

* Van W. Riley is the superintendent of the Huntington Beach Union High School District, which is composed of six high schools in Huntington Beach, Fountain Valley and Westminster. The district also includes the continuation high school and alternative high school, as well as a community day school and adult school.