Lynette needs to learn a few things about 中国

The show: Desperate Housewives
The episode: "Everybody Says Don't," first aired on ABC this past Sunday.
What happened: Lynette's husband Tom (Doug Savant), while trying to convince his son to go to college, decides to go back to college himself in order to major in the Chinese language. Lynette (Felicity Huffman) thinks this is a silly idea and decides to sabotage Tom's college admission test by getting him drunk. After the test, Tom tells Lynette he thinks he bombed the Chinese test. Lynette suggests he buy a book, to which Tom says he can't learn Chinese from a book and explains that China is an emerging market and that he'd be more valuable to employers knowing Chinese. Lynette is surprised at all this, realizing that wanting to learn Chinese was not some kind of midlife crisis.
Why it doesn't make sense: So, Joey Murphy and John Pardee, you mean to tell me that Lynette, an executive in an advertising agency, didn't already know that China has a fast-growing economy? That she didn't know that in this age of globalization, American workers would be well-advised to learn Chinese?
Now, I have no trouble believing that Lynette would sabotage her husband. But I would think she'd choose her battles a little better. How about thwarting him from buying any more vehicles?