[Caerula]

Well, actually in my Japanese course at Japanese Culture Institute are some pupils of senior classes who selected Japanese as subject at their school which is a Gymnasium (you could compare it more or less with a Senior highschool). That goes also for Spanish for example. They can even graduate in that subjects (A-level). In my country, we´re learning English from the time of kindergarten till gratuation. From 6th grade we can choose the language we want to learn next. The language depends on the school, but each school can decide which language they want to teach. So you can find here schools who offer Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, Italian etc. ... classes.
The point is most of these languages aren´t languages of any our neighbouring countries. Would I have to learn just languages at school that are languages of my neighbours, I had no opportunities to broaden my mind. It´s good to have the chance to learn every language you want to, even if it´s not useful in your current situation.
So you shouldn´t call the petition of these guys stupid - even if it is probably pointless.