French is pretty useless unless you want to live in France, Quebec or Mauritius.

It used to be that school leavers in the UK who wished to take higher education courses at university were required to have an "O' Level/'O' Grade pass in a foreign language. Back in 1970, a classmate of mine who wished to read 'agriculture' at university, but who had no foreign language pass could only apply to Belfast University. If the old situation still applies, French or any other foreign language is definitely far from pretty useless, which means you have misinformed us!

The gaokao is already totally unfair (IMHO), insofar as a student cannot re-sit it if they score a mark that is just below pass. However, I think that English is still considered to be far more important in China than French is in the UK. Time will tell I guess?

I agree the gaokao is unfair, also because the total score is the only selection criterion. So, for example, a pupil with 95% in English, but just 50% in maths will not have the chance to read English at a good university because he/she will have been outscored by a pupil with 75% in both subjects. The Chinese system favors all-rounders! A bad thing imo!

French, or any other European language ain't so important to many UK pupils these days coz of Brexit. However, universiry admission academic qualifications would still make a foreign language important for pupils who aim to study at university!