Alex Karlen
Chinese teacher Dingman Yu in his classroom.
Due to budget cuts and low enrollment, Chinese is being added to the growing list of languages that are no longer available to take at South High. After 53 years of the Chinese program being a staple at South High, it will end with the 2024-2025 school year.
Dingman Yu, who has been the Chinese teacher at South for over 28 years, was recently informed by South administration that starting next year, he would not be teaching any Chinese classes but instead teaching ESL (English as a Second Language) classes. South High was the first high school in Minnesota to have a Chinese program. The program started at South in 1972, after President Nixon made his historic visit to China, ending a 25 year isolation period between the two countries.
For decades, Chinese was one of the most popular classes at South, with Yu saying “For many years, I had to teach 6 hours a day with no prep, because the enrollment was so high.” At its peak, Yu said there were over 140 students enrolled in the program, with numbers today falling to under 30. This year, he only has 3 Chinese hours and two hours of ESL. When asked what his reaction to learning that the program was going to be cut was, he said, “It was kind of anticipated by me because of the low numbers in my classes. My three hours of Chinese have a combined 27 students.” When asked why he thinks the numbers dropped so much over the years, he said, “I don’t know if it is because students’ motivation is gone, or if students’ interest has shifted, or if it’s something else.”
Even though Yu anticipated the loss of the program, it is still a huge loss for South. “It is pretty sad because over the years, I have built this program. We’ve had a lot of exchange programs with Chinese schools and students, and I have led 15 student groups to China, as well as teaching thousands of kids here at South, so [the loss of the program is] pretty bad.”
The Chinese program is just one of many programs getting cut due to budget cuts at South over the last few years. This includes German and Latin classes, as well as many arts and music electives. It is really sad to see the loss of these programs for the South community, especially because South used to be known for its diverse language options and unique electives.