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Notes -
As somebody who studied two foreign languages not in the US, I can testify it's not uniquely US problem. In USSR, studying a foreign language was a requirement in the secondary school. Almost nobody achieved fluency this way, and the typical result was abysmal. The only way to achieve any result was to use a private tutor (either one on one or group), this is how I learned English, and the difference between approaches had been very pronounced. I suspect it's still pretty much this way (though now, given the Internet, there are better options). Well, there were also venues for diplomats, scientists, spies, etc. but those weren't for common people. I suspect many if not all major public education systems look this way.
This is also contradicts the assumption that it's only a matter of incentives. Knowing English (or, to a lesser degree, any popular foreign language) gave a person access to a variety of opportunities, but the purpose of the school system had never been to provide these opportunities. The purpose of the system were to drudge through the motions, put the appropriate checks into the appropriate checkboxes, and be done with it.
On the other hand, Israel had somewhat different problem, when accepting huge mass immigration who mostly did not speak any Hebrew at all. The ulpan system that was created to handle this, I think, largely served its purpose adequately. While you wouldn't be exactly native-level Hebrew speaker after finishing the ulpan, if you studied diligently and aren't especially incapable of learning languages, it would grant you a working knowledge sufficient for day to day function, and then immersion and personal effort could take you the rest of the way. Of course, the incentive here is more pronounced too.
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