Recently it often hits the headlines of newspaper

Recently it often hits the headlines of newspaper that today's children may be overprotected by their parents so that they were not likely to face any challenge in years to come, which has provoked a heated discussion among the public.

请问这里的were likely to 用的对吗？ 这算是对未来情况的虚拟语气？

Recently it often hits headlines of newspapers that some prestigious universities like Tongji exclude Chinese from the subjects to be tested in their practice of independent admission. This has aroused heated discussion among the public -- Is
　　Chinese not so important as English? What if we neglect the study of our mother tongue?
　　First of all, globalization counts much for this phenomenon. In modern society, information in most media, be it the Internet or newspaper, is conveyed in English. As a saying goes, one can go to every corner of the world without any difficulty in communicating with local people. Unfortunately, while we emphasize the importance of English, we underrate the value of Chinese though China has been developing at an amazing speed.
　　But neglecting the study of Chinese is extremely harmful if the situation is left unfettered. The major harm is that China’s traditional value is likely to get lost because language and ideas are interlocked in most cases. For example, when interviewed, most youngsters show that they are quite unfamiliar with some famous figures and their sayings.
　　To sum up, many reasons are responsible for the phenomenon and it will do us harm if we leave the situation as it is. Faced with the problem, we are expected to take effective measures. For one thing, the government should work out rules to ensure the time for the study of Chinese in school. Only in this way, can we find a cure for the problem.

同问。。。