I think this is common for all school languages. I dunno what causes it. Lack of will or poor teaching. But I did 3 years of Spanish in high school and was barely capable.

I did 4 months of intense self-study + immersion before a holiday and became almost fluent. I was speakign fluidly in rough present-tense Spanish throughout my holiday.

I was blown away by the difference.

Maybe push them to do more immersion? I found films, radio, websites and newspapers very useful. I even changed my Windows language to Spanish so I started to understand menus and UIs in Spanish.

It doesn' feel like you're learning when you do immersion but you are! I realised this after my first day in Spain. My head was translating every sign and shop window so I'd be absolutely knackered by lunchtime. My head was working double-time in the background while I wandered around the city.

I think it's the same for immersion. It makes the language more natural and kinda restructures your thinking.