I took a couple years each of French and German as a kid and never had the opportunity to use any of it. However, I’m grateful, because the ability to learn a language atrophies if it isn’t used.
Later, when I was in the Marines, I was stationed in Japan and learned as much of the language as I could. Why? Because it was in my selfish interest to do so. I taught some volunteer English classes, made a lot of friends who took me on trips and invited me into their homes, and even met my wife in one of the classes.
Marrying somebody from another country, with a different culture, and language can be pretty intimidating, and one of the major points in my favor was that the male members of that English class would vouch for my character. Why? Because I learned their language and respected their culture. After all, I was the guest in their country.
If I were in HS today, I would take Mandarin or one of the Middle Eastern languages (probably not Arabic if the teacher was a Koran pusher…) or Spanish on the assumption that they might be useful to me. If you will never travel anywhere, or even if you do, the language to know is English. Everything else is optional.
Listening to Obama on language is like listening to Gore on energy use. I have no use for hypocritical scolds. A man with half a brain or some semblance of sense wouldn’t say such stupid things. Those who listen are dumber still.
