In China, every student learns both Modern Chinese (Mandarin) and Classical Chinese in the same course in elementary school, middle school and high school, and also learns one foreign language, majorly English, since a high grade of elementary school and continuously learns foreign language till college.
In the United States of America and the United Kingdom, both Latin and Greek are taught as foreign languages in courses other than the English language art course or English literature course. And few students learn Old English even in high school.
In the United States of America and the United Kingdom, few students are required to read or recite any sentence in Beowulf or Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. While in China, all students are required to read, understand and recite hundreds of ancient poems and original articles that were written 1,000 years ago or even 2,500 years ago in Classical Chinese. Actually, just since the 1910's, Chinese official writing language was changed from Classical Chinese to Mandarin. If does not learn Classical Chinese, people cannot read any Chinese official documents written before the 1910s.
The Old English is not a vivid part of Modern English, while the thousands of poems, idioms and history stories are inalienable parts of Modern Chinese. According to the syllabus of Chinese elementary school, most of the about 200 poems and articles in the 12 textbooks of the 6 grades are required to be recited. In middle school and high school, the proportion of Classical Chinese in the Chinese language course becomes even larger, so that Classical Chinese dominates the Chinese language course.