Bilingual (German - French) education continues to increase in Alsace

An article here in French begins with an interview with a person who is 20 years old and a chef de rang at a restaurant in Strasbourg and who was enrolled in bilingual schools since he was in kindergarten. He talks about how useful German is for him to know, and then the article gives some numbers:

Bilingualism continues to develop in Alsace. According to figures there are 24,627 students from kindergarten to high school that are taking a bilingual curriculum, three times more than in 2000 (7,119). In primary school the number of bilingual students increased from 6,731 to 19,812, middle school from 344 to 3,656 today, high school from 44 to 1,160. For Claude Froehlicher, president of the association of bilingual students, putting one's child in bilingual education is "common sense". "It's an opportunity for the future of one's child. German, he says, is the most spoken language in Europe. For employment it counts. The parents also say that it can't be bad to immerse oneself in a linguistic culture."