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Welcome to the U.K.: Will That Be Arabic Or Mandarin?

If you possibly needed further proof that the United States is most certainly not the United Kingdom, news this week that British schoolchildren...

Amanda M. Fairbanks
By Amanda M. FairbanksJan 07, 2010
Amanda M. Fairbanks
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If you possibly needed further proof that the United States is most certainly not the United Kingdom, news this week that British schoolchildren will soon be learning Arabic and Mandarin just about seals the deal.Starting next year, British primary schools will be required to offer its students lessons in a foreign language. The government said schools could choose from a wide aray of languages-Arabic to Mandarin, Japanese to French.A mandatory foreign language has never really taken root here, in part because imposing national education standards can be a bit, well, tricky.Is this the part where the American exceptionalism argument gets tossed out completely?Illustration via
educationu.k.foreign languages

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