Former Paly student aims for a career that utilizes Mandarin

Student considers Mandarin language better suited for dyslexics than English

posted October 19, 2009

by Sarah Martignetti of Campanile

Corwin Garber

Senior Reed Carter

By Sarah Martignetti

Sports Editor

Former Palo Alto High School student Reed Carter has not let his learning disability hinder his chances of learning a foreign language. Carter, like many Paly students with learning disabilities, has dyslexia. Dyslexia affects one in five students worldwide and is the most common cause of learning difficulties and confusion.

Dyslexia causes the brain to read words backwards, which consequently makes reading and writing much harder than it is for students without learning disabilities.

Since languages are based around reading and writing, it seems like a daunting task for a dyslexic student to be faced with the challenge of learning to read and write in a completely different style.

Mandarin provides a new opportunity for dyslexic students who have struggled with other languages.

Paly recently added Mandarin to its curriculum in the foreign language department and it has been very popular with many students. Mandarin has a notorious reputation for being an extremely difficult language to learn for non-native speakers.

Carter, however, found that Mandarin was much easier than he had anticipated.

"I hear very often that kids taking European languages feel lost but I very rarely felt lost or left behind," Carter said. "I mainly have a hard time with spelling, however, the Chinese written language is entirely made up of characters. This means that you can't spell anything wrong in Chinese. You either have the characters memorized or you don't."

Carter feels that Paly's language department does a great job preparing its students to learn the language. The mild pace of the class also allowed Carter to keep up with his classmates despite his learning disability.He also felt that he effectively learned the language through the help of the teachers that supported him each step of the way.

"I found the Paly Mandarin program to be incredibly helpful and understanding of my dyslexia." Carter said. "Mr. [Norman] Masuda and Ms. [Janet] Shyr are immensely skilled educators who understand how to simplify and break down a very complex language like Mandarin."

Similar to many students with learning disabilities, Carter is on a 504 plan that gives him extra time on tests and special accommodations aimed to help students cope with learning disabilities.

Students must apply to receive a 504 plan and prove that they have a valid reason for needing extended time. 504 plans also extend to when students take standardized tests such as the SAT, because they are given extra time for each section. Carter felt that Paly always did a good job of providing him with the option of altering his testing environment when he needed it and they made sure to let him know when he had the opportunity to take extra time on his tests should he require it.

Despite these useful accomadations, Carter rarely ended up needing them during his time at Paly.

"I was on a 504 plan, but I never felt I had to use it for Mandarin although I see how it could help students with dyslexia," Carter said. "Paly was very easy to work with regarding acquiring and using accommodations. I used the extra time on test accommodation once and that was for my [Advanced Placement Music Theory] test."

Carter's experience with Mandarin at Paly has inspired him to use his newfound talent with the language beyond the classroom. Carter now converses with the local native Mandarin speakers in his new town of Eastland, Texas.

After high school, Carter would like to enlist in the Navy and feels that his Mandarin skills will help succeed.Although the Navy is a completely different environment, Carter feels that the Paly Mandarin program has supplied him with enough education to ensure his success once he enters the Navy.

Carter is also interested in entering the Navy because of the programs the Navy has that will help support him through college.

He is looking to go to the Navy through the Veterans Tuition Assistance Bill, which will allow him to serve in the forces for four years. After his time in the Navy, when he comes back home, they will fully fund his college tuition.

Carter aspires to attend a four year college that will allow him to major in Mandarin as well as International Relations.

Carter is currently lives in Texas and has not been able to continue with Mandarin classes.

His new school, Eastland High School in Eastland, Texas, does not have as many choices in their language department as Paly does. Eastland High currently only offers Spanish.

Despite his new school's lack of Mandarin, Carter has managed to keep up his skills and continues to practice Mandarin so that he will not lose his ability to converse in Mandarin.

"Obviously I have no way of speaking Chinese academically [because the Eastland does not offer Mandarin classes]," Carter said. "But there is a Chinese restaurant in town owned by native Chinese speakers so I'm going to try and practice a bit on them."

Recently, Carter took a placement test for the military, which all applicants and potential naval officers are required to take to place them in a field within the United States military or Navy best suited to their interests and skills.

After taking the military placement test, Carter's plans took an unexpected turn. He managed to place in the 93rd percentile of all the applicants that applied and took the placement test.

"Since I placed so highly out of those that took the test, I was offered a spot to participate in nuclear engineering," Carter said.

Carter originally wanted to become a Chinese linguist once he joined the Navy, but he now believes that changing career paths will allow him to take advantage of more opportunities in the future than a career as a Chinese linguist would have if he had taken that route.

Carter still wants to pursue Mandarin in his future careers and believes that refocusing his naval profession will not detract from his original goal.

"Originally I went into the test expecting to place into Mandarin," Carter said. "I passed the language section but I placed higher in nuclear engineering. I think Mandarin is just a keystone to greater opportunity because now I hope to pursue nuclear engineering in China. I definitely want to use Mandarin in my career throughout my life, so this solidifies this."

Despite Mandarin being his first choice with the Navy, Carter feels comfortable with his decision to switch career paths and go into Nuclear Engineering .

He feels that in the long run it will benefit him more because it will provide him with more options than his previous decision of becoming a Chinese linguist would have given him.

" The way I see it is that you have to sacrifice one thing for another." Carter said. "I will include Mandarin into my professions somehow and althought this was not what I expected, pursuing Nuclear Engineering will give me opportunity to utilize my Mandrin that I didn't have before."