While educators largely agree about the benefits of foreign language education, neither high schools nor universities are focusing on language literacy for the 21st century.

Many high schools teach Spanish or French. Perhaps larger, better-funded districts might also offer German or Chinese. The College Board offers Advanced Placement exams in seven languages, five of which are European. Fewer than 3,000 students take the Japanese exam, and only 15,000 take Chinese. In comparison, 20,000 take the art history AP exam, while 150,000 test in Spanish, and double that take psychology. Most high schools and universities, however, are ignoring the language skills that will prepare the current generation for the future.

A half-century ago, Japan seemed like the country of the future. Japan’s economic boom was the subject of both admiration and paranoia in the United States. The 1986 Michael Keaton film Gung Ho represented perhaps the peak of this Japan hysteria. As Japan’s demographic decline pushed that country into recession, China seemed the new Asian bet.

American business flocked to China, and Americans began studying Chinese in droves in the belief that proficiency in Chinese would be an asset in the job market. The Chinese Communist Party encouraged such a belief. Its leaders not only wanted a growing coterie of Chinese speakers, but they also wanted America’s elite China hands to sympathize with the CCP. That was their goal in subsidizing Confucius Institutes and underwriting university China programming.

China now faces a demographic precipice far more severe than Japan’s. It has lost its status as the world’s most populous country, and it will likely lose 40% of its population by the end of the century. Its economy is in dire straits, no matter dictator Xi Jinping’s bluster to the contrary. Any American doing business in China today risks not only their livelihood but also their life.

India, however, is a different case. President Joe Biden was right last month when he described the U.S.-India partnership as “among the most consequential in the world ... stronger, closer, and more dynamic than any time in history.” India is the world’s largest democracy. Its economic power will only grow. Yet American students are not preparing for the future.

English may be an official language of India, but five times more Indians speak Hindi. While the Boren Fellowship offers limited Hindi study opportunities, this supports just a handful of students. Nor is Hindi alone necessarily a ticket to success in Indian business. Some of India’s most industrialized states are in the south and west. The southern states — Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Telangana, and Kerala — very much resent the imposition of Hindi upon them. Consequently, it is crucial for Americans invested in India’s future to learn Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, and Malayalam. Consider: Six American universities currently teach Tamil; only one regularly teaches Telugu. Almost 100 universities, in contrast, not only offer Chinese language classes but also degree programs in Chinese.

Congress, the Department of Education, universities, and corporations together should fund and expand opportunities to study South Asian languages. Diplomatic declarations about partnerships are meaningless if Washington is unwilling to build a more solid base upon which U.S.-India commercial and security relations can grow over the next decades.

The world is rapidly changing, but both high schools and universities appear not to get the message. It is time to prepare the public for the economy and partnerships of tomorrow, not the needs of yesteryear.

Michael Rubin ( @mrubin1971 ) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner's Beltway Confidential blog. He is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.