It’s all about the fading tradition of getting a well-rounded education before you specialize. It wasn’t long ago, in America, that you were required to study Greek and Latin in your first two years at University. This was to ensure you could access foreign texts in your chosen field in the original languages and also to facilitate communications and understanding in not only your own language and field of endeavor, but other’s as well. Schools that didn’t require a broad education in the early years of University were known as trade schools, or technical institutes.
Today, we don’t produce professionals that can relate their specialty to other specialties. We produce technicians that know only the info required in order to graduate with a degree in their profession. This retards the ability to understand advances in other fields that may help advance their own.. Their world is less rich in understanding of other cultures and their creative abilities are limited due to a poor general knowledge base.
In my case, Latin was drilled into us by Jesuits in Catholic High School. I hated it and thought it useless for my future, unless I were to become a priest. But later, when I studied in Europe and Latin was required, It made my time there easier. I also noticed the people around me had a much greater command of the many languages one has to deal with while living there, doing business, etc., compared to the Americans who hadn’t had Latin, German, or Greek.
In America, I have spent a lot of time in medical research. Language is very important in this field. I was surprised at the papers written by very well educated people with advanced degrees. Grammar and spelling were often on a third grade level. They also were very limited as to subjects which they could discuss knowledgeably. Their worlds were limited to things concerning their profession and their families. They had little real understanding beyond any of that. I don’t consider that a good education. They were merely highly paid technicians.