i was talking about latin america as a whole in my previous post – i never mentioned mexico specifically. mexico is not the only country for which spanish is the primary language, and in case you aren’t aware we are in the process of ratifying free trade agreements with other latin american countries besides mexico (CAFTA, for example). while mexico and china are about equal trading partners with the u.s., latin america as a whole is a larger trading partner than china. also, u.s. direct investment in latin america dwarfs that of china. put simply, latin america will be equally if not more important than china to the u.s. economy for many decades.
since you brought it up, where mexico specifically is concerned, china is a greater economic power than mexico solely due to its larger population (1.2 billion in china versus 110 million in mexico). mexico’s per capita gdp is over 8x that of china ($10,000 vs. $1,200). outside its major cities, china is a poverty-stricken wasteland, while mexico is just merely poverty stricken (outside its major metropolitan areas, that is). china’s educational system is better than mexico’s, but mexico’s infrastructure, transportation and communication systems are all ahead of china’s when you look at both countries AS A WHOLE (as opposed to just comparing shanghai with guadalajara, for example). i’m curious… how much time have you spent in mexico and china?
again, i’m not knocking mandarin, but you have to keep the current “china hype” in perspective.
finally, if learning mandarin is what will make the incremental difference in your kids’ college applications then perhaps there are other issues that need to be addressed. anyhow, getting into the “right” college is dramatically over-rated in the whole scheme of one’s career and life. just a thought.
