On the Utility of a Classical Education

I will be more succinct than Cardinal Newman.  The great thing about having a kid thoroughly educated in the classics, knowledgeable of all the literary landmarks of humanity, and able to read ancient Greek texts such as the Odyssey or the Iliad, is that she can read the ingredients on a bottle of Greek beer.  It was that same skill that allowed her to tell us that "polydemeter" meant "multi-grain" on the package of cookies, whereas without that knowledge the only clue available to us would have been the total absence of any redeeming taste whatsoever.  And thus we sneer at those who doubted the value of studying the liberal arts.