Fair enough, but how many of these public school Chicagoans are taking Chinese because they are 'inclined to go that route'? You know damn well, (especially in Chicago), that this is just another liberal, multi-cultural load of bilge that is wasting the taxpayers' money and the time of our kids who are already undereducated in the basics.
Latin would be the best language for a first foreign language...the kids would have to learn grammar, and would improve their English vocabulary immensely. Plus, learning Spanish, Italian, French, Portuguese, Catalan, or Romanian later would be much easier.