Language Education in the UK

The current state of language education in the UK was summed up perfectly by Baroness Coussins in a letter to The Times this week. The plan to provide all Primary School children with foreign language education seems to have been quietly dropped. This follows the disastrous recent decision to no longer make languages compulsory after the age of 14. Baroness Coussin's letter points that only 6% of the world's population speak English as a native language and 75% speak so English whatsoever. In the past decade, the amount of traffic in English on the Internet has declined from 51% to 29%.

So what does this say about the UK? A sad mixture of complacency and arrogance. Economic complacency as we watch the BRIC and other developing nations power ahead in business - do we think that British firms will do well in China if we do not teach at least some of our children to speak Chinese? Arrogance because that old 'they all speak English anyway' attitude just won't go away despite the overwhelming evidence that the world is moving on.