The Foreign language issue is probably a much bigger one than we currently credit. Look at the jobs in the tech industry, of which there are hundreds, and as we've sold ourselves as the EMEA base for these companies, they require fluency in second languages. Those posts go unfilled and labour has to be imported.
It's an essential second skill and should be seen as such.
I do wonder if we expect too much of the state in terms of education. While there are issues as parents why do we delegate the whole education of our kids to the state, if we're that interested we should be involved.
If the state school system is weak on science in the primary years, then fill that gap as a parent. My niece and nephew were always more science focussed as children, so we came up with experiments to do suitable for children and at home (bottle rockets, etc).
It seems that parents have high hopes for their children and apply much more pressure on them being graduates, but want the state to do the work for their child (as well as every other child in the state). Of course, the parents pat themselves on the back as to how great and supportive they are for paying for grinds.
There is no solution to this from a state level, it can't be all things to all children. The state can provide a standard level of education and while that might have weaknesses, how much of the responsibility for the failure in those areas lies with the parents?
Parents have too big a focus on results without wanting to play their part in the education of their children. To me that's where the problem lies, not the state education system.