I learned a moderate amount of German, much of which I forgot, but it's useful for talking with some of my old friends from Germany.

That said, I agree we should encourage individuals to study another language, but I don't agree it should be mandatory.

One, many American's will never leave the country. Two, I think if you're traveling abroad, you should have a novice grasp of the language of that country you are visiting. I get so mad when I hear that people in America don't know English. I also get mad when I hear about people going to non-English speaking countries and not knowing their language. It's just rude. Europeans clearly do a much better job at educating themselves, but this is because they don't have to travel far to find another language.

America's closest language is Spanish in Mexico, and not many really go there unless it's tourist destinations where everyone speaks English anyway to cater to the tourism.