No student in secondary school (especially past the age of 15) should be required to take a foreign language course, unless, naturally, such courses are an integral part of the students educational or career goals. Requiring people past their teen years to learn a foreign language is just not an efficient use of time. The best time for learning a foreign language is when one is a child, the younger the better–even in kindergarten or before. Naturally, parents would be required to choose the language they would like their children to learn. If a mature child expresses a strong, reasoned desire to learn a different language, then that student could switch languages.