Who stands to gain?
Square, do you speak Latin or any foreign languages?
I'm still mad at my high school counselor for suggesting I take French 101 back in the late 1970's.
Ugh.
Spanish or Latin would have been the way to go.
Though, the smart language choice today, I understand, is Mandarin.
My advice to anyone is take a language you would be interested in learning as you would be more likely to apply yourself to learning it.
Two benefits not readily obvious to learning a 2nd language.
1. It helps you understand the structure, grammar, spelling, and so forth of your 1st language.
2. If you become an academic, you'll be able to read and understand research in that 2nd language, which I think is why many liberal arts based degrees require a foreign language. Phd candidates may have to meet this requirement, too. Bilingual students have it easy in this regard.
Side note: Many European countries have their students learn three languages. Their native language and two others. I don't know for sure, but those two others may not both be optional. English may be required.
John, how many years of high school French did you take?
Did you need to take a language to graduate with a J-school degree from Northwestern?