Editor, Gazette-Journal:

“The benefits of a classical education,” may or may not have been Shirley Ryan’s phrase to headline her recent letter to the editor dated May 28, but it does hint at someone’s—perhaps the editor’s— misunderstanding of the huge difference in taking Latin courses versus studying the Great Books. Nonetheless, I am in complete agreement with retired GHS teacher Ryan as to the “tremendous benefits from ‘subjects like Latin’ which can have longer lasting impact than those mandated by the SOLs.”

A “classic education” remains possible at some parochial and private grade schools scattered around the country, but only a few colleges offer the study in its traditional form. One is St John’s College in Annapolis, Md., and Santa Fe, N.M.; another is Thomas Aquinas College in California. There the study includes Aristotle’s Categories, Euclid’s Elements, Cicero’s On Duties...