The Age reports that the Business Alliance for Asia Literacy – a coalition of sixty business groups, unions and corporations – is calling for a greater educational focus on Asia, with the leader Australian Industry Group, Heather Ridout, saying “understanding Asia, knowing the languages, cultures and traditions and teaching our children about our near neighbours is essential for future prosperity.”
This comment is undoubtedly true, and I would add that such understanding is also essential in improving the prospects of regional stability and developing more cooperative approaches to environmental and social challenges in our region.
The Business Alliance for Asia Literacy is hardly the first group to argue that improving the understanding of Asian languages, culture and history would be beneficial to Australia. However, the trends in this area in recent times have not been very positive.
On the same day The Age article appeared, The Australian reported that “Victoria University has dropped all its language courses except Vietnamese, while intensifying remedial English courses.”
You can hardly blame a University for not offering a course if there is little demand for it from students. But one benefit of Australia’s large and diverse migration intake, including a very high number of international students, is that a majority of these people are already fluent in different cultures and in languages other than English.
Many of these are Asian languages and cultures, so when they further strengthen their English language skills – which is where Victoria University is devoting more of their resources – it achieves many of the same goals the Business Alliance for Asia Literacy is calling for, just in reverse order.
Bringing more people of Asian background into Australia doesn’t negate the benefits of better educating other Australians about the languages and culture of our region. But it is an indication that Australia is becoming more Asia-literate than might be assumed, as well as a reminder of the benefits of making better use of the skills and talents that migrants, including students, bring with them.
