I'm an Italian living in the US and I studied English in middle and high school. For a total of 8 years. It was very valuable: I learned all the grammar and stu

I'm an Italian living in the US and I studied English in middle and high school. For a total of 8 years. It was very valuable: I learned all the grammar and studied some literature. I did not learn any conversational skills. BTW I was required to attend class. It made my relocation to the US (happened several years later) much easier. In high school I also studied French for 2 years. I found the article very short sighted. It seems strange to me that a high school kid can choose not to attend a class. If I had to choose, I would have spent all my time in the CS lab. Forget about French, Latin, philosophy, Italian, History! Now, instead, I regret having studied too much CS and only 2 years of Latin.