I am a student at Oak Hills High School in Cincinnati, Ohio. We have an amazing Chinese program. Our teacher is the sweetest person alive and gives us so much help. People are usually fluent in Chinese by the time they get to AP Chinese. The class grade average is an A. Chinese class is what keeps so many people going. However, our school wants to save money and cut the Chinese program. They want to cut classes, so they picked the class with the least amount of people in it (There's 17 people in my class by the way) and decided to end it next year.

Our teacher will be jobless

I don't think the district understands that our teacher won't have a job after this. She is the sweetest person ever and has told us how much she loves it here, and how much she loves her students and this job. If it weren't for the fact that she just got married, she would likely be sent back to China. She has done so much for us and the school, and gets very little back. This is not only unfair to students, this is unfair to our teacher.

There will be no more celebration of East Asian culture

The other languages offered at our school are Spanish, French, and German, all European languages. Outside of the Chinese program, which brings us on cultural field trips and holds Chinese events, there is little to no celebration of East Asian culture at our school. We do have a Kpop club, but it's held by our Chinese teacher. It's important to have diversity not only in the student body but in what we learn, and having a Chinese class allows that diversity. Teaching kids about other cultures is a necessity, and taking this away will do more harm than good.

Chinese class/club is a safe space

I found my best friends through Chinese class. I found a teacher that I can trust and go to when I need help. Everyone in my class is very sweet and very helpful to others. It's like a big family. The moment you step into the classroom, you are greeted with smiles and “你好！" and you feel very welcomed. Taking this away will not only make current students lonely and take away a safe place from us, it will prevent possible future friendships, it'll make new freshman feel lost and they won't have a place to go either. It's a big school and this class made me feel at home. Chinese class/club also gives a safe place to Asian students who feel as if they don't fit in other places. There are several students who don't even take Chinese, but still either attend Chinese club or just stop by the Chinese classroom once in a while to be around people who appreciate Asian culture and to fit in for a little bit. My best friend, who's Vietnamese says, "i would just say coming from vietnam and not know a lot of english, chinese has really helped me to fit in and be around people who understand asian cultures. chinese class makes me feel like i'm not such a freak or an outcast"

Chinese is an important language

Over 1.2 billion people speak Chinese as their native language and many more as a second. People don't understand that Chinese is just as important as any other language in the real world. Chinese is the language of the future. Taking this option away will not only hurt students now, but it will limit their opportunities in the long run. My best friend is moving to Taiwan in a few years, and he relies on this class to prepare him for it. Even if you don't plan on living in a Mandarin speaking country, it still looks very impressive on job and college applications if you've taken Chinese. Especially 4-5 years of it. However, cutting the program would mean that people would either have to quit languages or start fresh with a new one, which doesn't do much good in high school.

Please help us save this class.

Sincerely,

中文学生在橡树山高中

Chinese Students at Oak Hills