The state of Delaware prides itself on business-friendly policies—policies that, for some young residents, start in kindergarten.

During a Chilean American Chamber of Commerce event in Wilmington, Delaware, Governor Jack Markell boasted of the state's international business relations, siting trips to Chile and collaborations with the port authority. In order to conduct business, Markell argued, the state must prepare for the future, starting in elementary school. 

Markell outlined the Delaware's world language immersion initiative, which currently provides an intensive language curriculum to 850 school children. Since 2012, the program has incorporated Spanish or Mandarin Chinese education into math or science classes, beginning in Kindergarten, with the intention of administering AP exams when students reached ninth grade. 

So far, eleven elementary schools and nine middle schools have language immersion programs in the state. By 2020, the Delaware Department of Education plans for one out of five elementary schools to have a language immersion program and for one out of three middle schools to offer two or more languages.

Markell argued that the investment in language education would payoff when students finally entered the workforce, stressing the importance of expanding and fostering international business relations in the United States.