Most people can't make any significant progress in a foreign language without social support. That means more than classes four hours a week; it usually means

Most people can't make any significant progress in a foreign language without social support. That means more than classes four hours a week; it usually means total immersion with friends or a host family or both. People around the world learning English have advantages in that most of their peers also want to try the world's most popular language and Hollywood and the Internet have pushed English language media everywhere. English speakers learning a foreign language don't have advantages like that. Americans don't have much help at all learning a foreign language unless they're in one of the Spanish-speaking parts of the USA learning Spanish. Language acquisition is no more difficult for adults than for children. The myth of easy childhood learning is based on their lack of fear, their willingness to ask for help, and the mountains of free time children have for learning. Adults who want to learn a language usually have to commit to spending several months in a row abroad away from job and family. Few can afford to do so. I did go abroad and learned my second language as an adult. I liked it but it was very expensive and few will choose to do it. But studying a language in an American high school is unlikely to benefit anyone much. The youngsters would be much better off saving the four hours a week for two years and spending six weeks in an immersive program in Guatemala or Seoul.