I think this is an excellent idea and shared by many others.  I think it should also be taught around the 4th grade as well.  Esperanto's makes extensive use of prefixes and sufixes to expand on the meaning of the root word.  It also helps significantly to understand parts of speech and sentence diagraming.

Excellent idea. Besides being a great tool for learning foreign languages, Esperanto is a NEED in a true multicultural world.

Any ethnic language -- English, Spanish, Chinese, you name it -- carries with itself a culture that must also be grasped in order for the language to be truly assimilated. Esperanto is not biased to any culture, it is multicultural in essence.

America could be an example to the world by supporting the idea of a multicultural world in which people could use the auxiliary language anywhere. A language planned for that job, easier to learn than any ethnic language.

Esperanto would be a tool not only for learning languages; it would be a tool for changing children's minds. The kids would think that other peoples, other cultures, other countries, other languages are not frightful, but only different, deserving respect.

The British philosopher, born in Austria, Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951) has one of the most famous quotes referent to the languages: “The limits of my language are the limits of my world”.
Against to that that many believe, a language is not only a grammatical structure, ordered words with a syntactic code, but also, and especially, a creation of meaning from our senses. By them, we observe, interpret and express the world from our personal, geographic and determinate politician place. Therefore, any language is not neutral and all of them in his genes bring the footprint of the culture to what they belong.

It is not a bad thing that exists a lingua franca that facilitate the mutual knowledge in these global times, but it is a bad one how this transmit the ideology of superiority that characterizes it, which, consciously or unaware, exhibits his contempt for the “subordinate” languages, in other words, for all the rest. The complex of superiority that accompanies always to an imperial language is so much inherent to its essence that nowadays you can observe even among the English social activists involved to the fight for a better world: their media are a tangible test of the writings that publish translated from “subordinate” languages constitute only an insignificant percentage of his content. The translations from English to other languages are highly upper to those of the reverse sense. All of us are guilty to accept up to now such inequality.
Esperanto, as a neutral language, can help to the linguistic democracy.

I agree wholeheartedly and I am trying to learn it now.

For this to happen, the ideal tool might be something like
http://www.springboard2languages.org

I have started to write about Esperanto on my Blog: http://www.ArionsHome.com/Esperanto
Topics such as why we need an International Auxiliary Language and why we should pick Esperanto for it. I have also started to write tutorials on learning Esperanto.
Here are a few other Esperanto Non-Profits to support:http://www.change.org/esperantic_studies_foundationhttp://www.change.org/esperanto_league_for_north_america

I think that I could speak beter in esperanto than in englisch to USA-people.

Js.

Very good idea for democracy not only in the USA but for the whole world.

Since education is on state-level in the USA and not on federal, I think it is vaneful to ask mr Obama to make change here.
But, I indeed think that Esperanto could be extremely useful to a new generation of citizens of the USA. The idea of Esperanto as a springboard to other languages is indeed not new, but it is never the less worth serious consideration.

UNESCO has long since advocated the teaching of Esperanto at schools. I don't see why this has not been implemented yet.

Judith Meyer said: "I don't see why this has not been implemented yet."
May be because some people do not really like so much democracy...

 The attitude of USAmericans to ignore others' languages and cultures and impose their own is well known around the world and is the ground for many of the difficulties they are more and more experiencing in relations with many countries.
 If the new president succeeds in opening their minds to other cultures this will be beneficial both to USA and to the whole world - including economy.
 In this respect Esperanto is a very valuable and equitable tool, easy to learn for all, which will spare a lot of effort and pain as compared to direct learning of other languages - ethnic ones are always difficult to manage, at least at the beginning. My esperience with it is totally positive, since while being very useful as an auxiliary language it does not imply discarding national languages; on the contrary it easies the subsequent learning of more languages.

The world desperately needs an international auxilliary language. It's establishment represents the crowning achievement of our time. The only suitable language in existence is Esperanto, and so it is the only logical choice.
Now is the time--the world stage is as set as it could ever be. The way to achieve this is by teaching it to our children, establishing it as the working language of the U.N., and promoting scientific collaboration between cultures. Meditate on the subject for a while, and it becomes clear that, with the world shrinking day by day, eventually this task must be done. The only question is when, and the answer to that question is immediately. Peace and prosperity require effective communication channels, and the language barrier must be removed in order to establish those channels.
Any effort to truly change the world must begin with spreading Esperanto. Without that foundation, nothing lasting can be achieved.

I think that Esperanto merits to be taught in every school. If you learn Esperanto as a first second language, you learn the second language much easier. It has developped a true culture. When you learn Esperanto, you want to understand other people, not to fight them. I have faith in Barack Obama.

I see that President-elect Barack Obama wants everyone to learn a foreign language, but which one should it be?The British learn French, the Australians study Japanese, and the Americans prefer Spanish.Yet this leaves Mandarin Chinese and Arabic out of the equation.

An interesting video can be seen at http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8837438938991452670 and a glimpse of Esperanto can be seen at http://www.lernu.net/

From my blog (http://pupeno.com/blog/the-need-for-a-common-language):

In 1975, the World Health Organization refused: U$S 148,200 for a better public health service in BangladeshU$S 83,000 to fight leprosy in BurmaU$S 26,000 for basic hygiene in Dominican RepublicU$S 0.50 per patient to cure trachoma, which has millions of victims and can cause blindnessand many other requests
Meanwhile, it accepted Chinese and Arabic as working languages increasing the expenses in in translations by U$S 5,000,000, every year. Let's add a bit of perspective. The cost of all projects for Africa is U$S 4,200,000, almost a whole million dollars less that translating for these two new languages. It is clear that a common simple international language is needed. Source: Everyone's own language by Maire Mullarney, citing an open letter by Claude Piron.

Esperanto is ideal for primary language-learning It provides a successful first experience, and access to the widest possible range of foreign cultures.

It can be effectively taught by generalist teachers, learning as they teach. This makes language-learning a normal part of education, delivered in frequent short sessions, and integrated with other subjects and classroom routines.

Scarce LOTE (Language Other Than English)professionals can then be deployed in secondary schools to deliver a wider variety of language choices to students who are well-prepared to make a commitment to study of a particular language, or to retire from language-learning bilingual.

A comprehensive and easy to use kit for unilingual generalist teachers will be available in January from www.mondeto.com

The site also contains information about pilot schools, research and resources to support the adoption of this strategy.

Teaching children how to speak and write Esperanto is one of the best ways to foster communication among people from different countries and cultures, with no linguistic privileges being granted to any particular group.

So many ways to learn it, most of them free of charge!
www.lernu.net www.ikurso.net
Mar Cardenas - Grupo Amikema
Internacia Klubo de Esperanto
http://groups.google.com/group/Grupo-Amikema

Manchester University's independent evaluation of the Springboard2Languages programme, which uses Esperanto to teach primary school children about language learning, found that children from the programme could more successfully "decode" a sentence using unknown words in French than children in their third year of studying French.

http://www.springboard2languages.org/Summary%20of%20evaluation,%20S2L%20Phase%201.pdf

Quite apart from the possibilities for using the language to communicate internationally, Esperanto provides a very solid basis for future learning of other languages. For that reason, it's valuable, even for children who will never meet another Esperanto speaker in their lives.

I think Penelope Vos has solved one of the biggest problems for introducing Esperanto into the normal education system.  That is, where would we find enough Esperanto teachers?  She suggests using the normal class teachers to teach it.The fact that Esperanto is phonetical and has a clear and regular grammar with no exceptions, makes it possible for any trained teacher to actually teach it to their class while they themselves are learning it. 

I would also like to see it taught for at least three years in elementary schools so the children are well prepared for learning another language when entering high school.  The earlier that children can learn a language the easier and more natural it is for them.

It would really show that USA are able to imagine relations with other countries without ethnocentrism.

If American children are learning Esperanto up to a standard that they can communicate freely in it, I feel sure that European countries would soon follow suit.  If America and Europe are doing that, would Japan and China be far behind?

Tiu cxi estas tre bona ideo ;)
Many teachers don't even know the language they're teaching (they teach it straight out of a textbook) so having Esperanto-fluent teachers isn't going to be necessary, in fact, this will be much easier for teachers because they themselves will easily learn it too probably just by teaching it. Hopefully this idea catches on in Australia.
And culturally, Esperanto leads many pathways open to other cultures. In only a few weeks of learning Esperanto on lernu.net, I ended up talking to people from France, Spain, Mexico, Sweden, England, Australia Russia, Poland, the Netherlands just to name a 'few'. So, not only will Esperanto allow easy language learning, but it will also allow school language curriculum to be integrated with international cultural curriculum.
And also, given Esperanto's flexible nature, it could be used to teach students other writing systems like Cyrillic and et cetera which are used a lot in Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

In one semester students would achieve flexibility in the use of Esperanto, language which can be learned in only 50 hours of direct study.
Beyond the practicality of using the International Language, spoken by people in 175 countries (approved by UNESCO), this mastery will be a source of psychological wellbeing in itself.
RFG

A dream.. but why not?
Twenty years ago, the election of coloured man  as president of  USA also was a dream...

A good idea... sed why not ?
Twenty years ago, the election of coloured man as president of USA also was a dream...

People do not believe in Esperanto, because they do not understand why need this language, if you already have the English language, which is distributed worldwide.
The answer is simple: English language learners must study for years, but not everyone can learn to speak well and understand. Esperanto is a simple language. We need to spend very little time to study the language. Learning to speak Esperanto could all!
The introduction of Esperanto in education will provide an opportunity for easy communication between people around the world.

Just try it.  When I was 77 years old, I began learning esperanto, to be a bit less stupid before dying. One month later, as a training job, I started translating my book "La Fume" from the french original into esperanto.  Six months later, I had finished!  A lot of voluntary re-readers from several countries corrected free my not so many mistakes.  It has been published under the title "La Fumado", and can be uploaded free from http://tabacologie.fr.  Just type "Esperanto" on Google or Firefox and you will discover an universe, with interactive free learning methods.  Have a go!

About Esperanto and International Language :

"One language for the World
and how to achieve it"

http://miresperanto.narod.ru/biblioteko/pei.htm
by Mario Pei (Univ. Columbia)

http://www.esperanto-chicago.org/jones/pei.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mario_Pei

Why not teach a common neutral non-national language, in all countries, in all schools, worldwide?
An interesting video can be seen at http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8837438938991452670 and a glimpse of Esperanto can be seen at http://www.lernu.net

Sorry!  The link does not works because of a final point.
Try http://tabacologie.fr

Some of many advantages: 1. By teaching the concepts of a language - the parts of speech, the tenses of verbs, the need to agree number and case - it makes understanding other languages, including English, much easier. 2. Esperanto is a living language in its own right, so students can have pen-firiends, read magazines, connect via the internet 3. It demonstrates that we need to make an effort to communicate with people we do not know - and once we make friends, we are much less likely to want to go and drop bombs on them. Esperanto should be part of the national curriculum in the UK as well.

Esperanto is not a national language, but international language.
Luis Cordova
Mexico City

A study at York University in Toronto showed that bilingual people are less prone to the effects of Alzheimers. This would mean that Esperanto could be useful for public health even to those people who don't travel or need a means of international communication.

Wonderful idea, specially now that americans are wanting to connect more with the rest of the world. Now that Obama won.

The best!

I am glad to hear Mr. Obama saying that Americans should start learning foreign languages, since that is what we have been doing in Europe already for a long time.

I have been learning Esperanto for the past 3 years.
I am amazed at its rich culture and background.
Those who don't take on Esperanto are missing out
on a whole new adventure into a single world of peoples.

I see that President-elect Barack Obama wants everyone to learn a foreign language, but which one should it be?The British learn French, the Australians study Japanese, and the Americans prefer Spanish.Yet this leaves Mandarin Chinese and Arabic out of the equation.An interesting video can be seen at http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8837438938991452670 and a glimpse of Esperanto can be seen at http://www.lernu.net/

I fully agree that Esperanto should be part of the U.S. educational system. I'll give two reasons; Esperanto's simple yet powerful  grammar makes it an excellent tool to help children understand the grammars of other languages and, as our world becomes evermore interconnected and interdependent, we really do need a common, second language. "No one's first, everyone's second" as the saying goes. -patrick, Alaska U.S.

Australia learns Japanese? That's an odd over-generalisation. Actually we don't learn anything consistently at the moment but our Federal Minister for Education, Julia Gillard, sees potential in the idea of learning Esperanto as a normal part of the Primary Curriculum and applying the resulting confidence, linguistic know-how and global perspective to more effective learning of a wider range of other languages at high school and beyond.

The best! (2)

I think this is an excellent idea

I think now is the right time for US citizens to start learning how to relate with other cultures and countries without causing an anti-USA feeling in the inhabitants of those other countries, or better, diminishing the already existent anti-USA feeling: Using Esperanto! Esperanto would also reduce immensely the amount of money spent (wasted) in translations, since if every country adopted it as their second language, the transnational communications problem would be more rapidly solved. The US is the leading country in almost every aspect. Why not be the leader in this change of parameters? For each country, its own language(s); for international communications, Esperanto. The UN lost a great opportunity to adopt it as official language in the International Year of Languages. But the US is a leader also in the UN, so why not give the example?
I do believe that Mr. Obama, with his multicultural background, understands well the need for change in the international communications scenario. I really hope he can start the biggest change in the world: that into a multicultural, pluriligual world, that respects each and every language and helps to keep them from disappearing, besides being a world in which the countries speak to each other on the same level.
Esperanto is the solution for preventing over 3,000 languages from dying.

About languages and Esperanto, please see
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YHALnLV9XU
Claude lived many years in the US.

Wonderful idea. Hope Obama give a big push in this international way to give better relations among nationalities with democracy and respect.

Yes, I do hope Obama considers this suggestion seriously! Learning and using Esperanto inspires empathy between people from different cultures and countries. It's relatively simple to learn, and as such would be ideal as everybody's first foreign language.

Das ist die sehr gute Idee!

Indeed it would give to USA a true international flavour