The beginning of a (bad) "story" (more like a thesis with a plot) which will probably never be finished (but who knows?), based in what I hope is not an entirely implausible setting:
Twenty fifty, In One Possible Future
In 2050 although over two-thirds of families in the United States still use English almost exclusively at home, everyone under the age of 35 speaks Spanish as well as if it was a first language, and no one thinks nothing of that fact. The first hispanic president has come and gone, and the current president is a hispanic woman. By gaining a second language and, to a lesser extent, culture, the United States has become more internationally aware than ever. Japanese is now the most popular foreign language course, with Chinese not far behind. Due to the challenges of teaching East Asian languages (even with the advantage of students already being bilingual), language courses begin as early as middle school, or sometimes even in elementary school. (Curriculum in Spanish as a second language, of course, starts in kindergarten or preschool - for those that need it. Although the average student will still take more English courses than Spanish courses, courses in Spanish are common throughout elementary, middle, junior high, and high school.) Arabic courses, while less popular, are pushed heavily still by the federal government despite the waning significance of the Middle East - and since schools are now funded with a centralized pool nationally, it is easy for the federal government to ensure funding is available for an Arabic department at all junior high and high schools. Unfortunately, due to the difficulties of learning Arabic, few students ever develop any real ability, and the government's emphasis on Arabic has been almost counter-productive.
The United States' growing sense of internationalism is useful since while the United States is no longer unchallenged as earth's only superpower, though still the oldest and most important, and soon to be eclipsed by China, Europe, and Japan - and maybe even India, and it needs a savvy approach to international affairs. Now Mexico is invoked in the same sentence with Canada and the United Kingdom as a critical, and assumed, ally. Japan can sometimes be counted on, but their power is still primarily economic, not military, and they are not as close an ally as the United States might wish. The situation in East Asia - balancing the needs and wants of China, Japan, and Korea, while maintaining good relations with all of them - is delicate, preventing too close an alliance with any of the East Asian powers. Because of the introduction of cheap alternative power sources and its drastically reduced oil production (which otherwise might still be of relevance to developing countries), the Middle East no longer holds the economic significance it once did, though culturally and ideologically it still has a heightened role.
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