The Foreign Language Learning Problem in Schools

I speak Spanish averagely well. Yet I would rank the four years I spent "learning" the language as one of the bigger wastes of time in my education. The moment I really learned the language was when I started spending time with Spanish speakers, traveling and conversing in Spanish out loud. Modern language learning courses and apps focus on this type of experiential learning above anything else, based on the insight that the absolute best way to truly learn a language is to speak it out loud. In school I remember learning verb conjugations and taking fill-in-the-blank quizzes about the exceptions to the rule.

This week Pew Research released a study about how American's generally rank the importance of children learning a foreign language in school. Those who agreed it was important were concluded to have a more global perspective. I'm not sure how I would have responded if I had participated. I believe learning a foreign language is important and eye opening for anyone (especially children). But if I had to vote for teaching it to them the way I learned it, I'm not sure I would support that. There are millions of children who complete four years of language learning and can barely converse in that language.

Focusing language learning on grammar is like teaching someone to cook by having them spend hours only chopping vegetables. If you learned a foreign language (in school or afterwards), what do you think?