When it comes to Spanish in the United States, most people start learning a little Spanish in grade school/junior high and then start taking it full time. (This is thankfully changing though, and many schools are starting Spanish education younger.) However, one thing that does not seem to be standard across the United States is whether people are taught Vosotros. I have talked with many people about this topic: professors, other students, etc.
I am of the opinion that vosotros should be taught instead of completely omitted. Not only that, I am also in favor of teaching “vos” as well, or at the very least, introducing it a few times.
The main argument I hear against teaching vosotros is that vosotros shouldn’t be taught in high school Spanish, because in the United States, students are unlikely to hear it much. While it is true that you don’t often hear much use of vosotros in the U.S., what about all the culture coming out of Spain that students will see, read, etc.? This goes for vos as well. I remember way back when I was in high school and saw sentences that used vos, I had no idea what those strange verb endings were. I remember thinking they were mis-spellings! I think a lot of students that aren’t taught vosotros or vos think everyone uses “ustedes” for plural familiar you, and that everyone uses “tú” for singular familiar you. Of course, both of those assertions are wrong.
I think it would be like teaching someone Brazilian Portuguese and just completely ignoring anything to do with the Portuguese of Portugal (yes, it’s a more extreme example than with Spanish but you get the point).
And besides, isn’t one of the fun things about language learning seeing how a language has evolved in different areas of the world?