The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, October 17, 1996, Page 3, Image 3
Student enrc
Cottoga Praaa Exchange
A growing number of students are
shrugging off French, German and
other traditionally popular languages
to enroll in Chinese and Arabic, the
fastest-growing foreign languages on
college campuses.
Chinese enrollment rose 36 percent
between 1990 and 1995, to 26,471
students, and Arabic enrollment by
28 percent to 4,444, according to a
survey of 2,700 two-year and fouryear
colleges by the Modem Language
NEWT continued from page 1
document distributed by the National
Republican Congressional Committee
(NRCC), the Democrats' plan will send
taxpayer dollars to Washington to be
used in "Bill Clinton's Washington
Bureaucracy."
"The question is, who should have
the money: families or the Washington
bureaucracy?" Gingrich said in his press
conference Wednesday.
South Carolina Director for the
Clinton/Gore campaign Mary SteeleNicholson
was outside the Republican
event with approximately 200 other
South Carolina Democrats as they hosted
a "Boot Newt" rally.
"We're here to talk about issues
affecting South Carolina families, and
we're here to talk about how Newt
Gingrich and the Republican agenda is
the wrong agenda for our country," SteeleNicholson
said prior to the rally's start.
"Cutting education, for example, is not
an option. Education is what will take
us into the 21st century. Not wanting
to take care of senior citizens is not an
option," Steele-Nicholson said.
"I represent [millions] of seniors in
this great United States and am happy
to be with you on behalf of President
Clinton and the Democratic party," South
Carolina senior citizen and "Boot Newt"
rally speaker Fran Potter said. "I have
been through many scary elections in
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my lifetime, and this election is the most
important election of my life," Potter
said.
"Die Republicans' and Newt Gingrich's
$270 billion cut in Medicare would have
been devastating to seniors like me,"
Potter continued "I am here to say thank
you to President Clinton and the
Democratic party."
State Republican party chairman
Hemy D. McMaster commends President
Clinton as well, but for his politicking
skills rather than his salvation of
Medicare.
"I think people just don't look up to
President Clinton," McMaster said "Even
though he is a very good politician."
McMaster chooses to ignore the polls
that show Dole trailing President Clinton
by as many as 15 points, as some results
have shown. According to McMaster,
four and a half years ago, British polls
predicted that Britain's Labour Party
would gain the Prime Ministership by
a landslide. On Election Day, however,
the Conservative Party captured most
of the vote, and John Major assumed
the role of Prime Minister.
McMaster expects Dole to win South
Carolina, although he thinks the race
will continue to tighten through Election
Day on Nov. 5.
"People want to cut taxes and the
Clinton administration has been one of
the most corrupt in American history,"
McMaster said on reasons why Dole will
win the 1996 election. Teople dont trust
the man and that's a very bad state of
affairs," he continued.
"The number one reason [why young
people should vote for DoleKemp]? Drug
use increased 73 percent while the size
of the Drug Enforcement Administration
(DEA) was cut by 80 percent," junior
history major Todd Firth said. "The
second reason? Clinton passed the largest
tax increase in the history of the world.
I'm voting for Dole because I will have
kids one day."
On the contrary, State Rep. Gilda
Cobb-Hunter (D-Orangeburg) said
students' futures depend on President
Clinton's re-election this November as
well as elections of other key Democrats
in South Carolina, including Rhett Power,
who seeks House seat 75.
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However, Spanish remains number
one in enrollment, with 606, 286
students. The next most popular
languages are French (205,351) and
German (96,263).
The survey notes that French
enrollment dropped 25 permit between
1990 and 1995, and German by 28
percent. Far fewer students enrolled
in Russian, which dropped 45 percent
At the University of CaliforniaLos
Angeles, Chinese enrollment has
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risen since 1990, while Japanese has
leveled off or remained the same, said
Richard Larson, administrative assistant
at UCLA's East Asian Languages and
Culture Department.
Students are interested in China
because "it's such an up and coming
economic power," he said.
Chinese is spoken not only in
China, but also Hong Kong, Singapore
and Taiwan?some of the fastestgrowing
economic markets. Attorneys
will often hire a UCLA Chinese
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teaching assistant to act as an interpreter
during a business deal, Larson said.
"We get people calling all the time
for translators," he said. "I tell students,
'If you know Chinese, you're going
to be one step ahead.'"
Still, most of the 280 UCLA
students enrolled in Chinese are drawn
to the course because of their heritage.
"Ninety percent are Asian-Americans
whose parents speak Chinese at heme,"
Larson said.
Larson, who is not Chinese, began
ses continues
auditing language courses several years
ago, after watching the crackdown of
pro-democracy protesters in Be'ijing's
Tiananmen Square with his Chinese
roommate.
"He had the TV on incessantly,"
he explained. "I started really becoming
involved with the Chinese people "
In fact, educators saylt is not
unusual for big newsrevents to affect
course enrollment. Interest in Russian
eased as the Cold War ended; interest
in the stutfy of German seemed to fall
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with the Berlin Wall.
Acting chair of Georgetown
University's Arabic department
Margaret Nydell said she is not
surprised by the results of the MLA's
survey.
"It makes sense to me because of
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in international politics and economic
concerns," she said. "We are seeing
an increased enrollment of students
who are interested in international
relations and also business school."
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