Latin and Greek languages, plus an acient Persian

"If an ancient Persian were to rise from the dead, there is one feature above all others in the system of modern life, which would strike him with surprise and perplexity; and, probably the majority of ourselves would be equally astonished at the fact, if we were not habituated to the sight of it. What is the meaning, he would ask, of devoting so much labour and time in the process of education, exclusively to the study of Latin and Greek? If the object of education is to fit men for discharging with propriety the duties of their subsequent life, why compel them to consume the first twenty years of their age, in an endeavour, and in nine instances out of ten, a painful and futile endeavour, to acquire a knowledge which gives them no practical information, which they throw aside the moment it is acquired, which, if pursued, would lead them far away from the business and interests of life; and which sends them into the world ignorant of its commonest facts, and with all the main principles of conduct still wanting, and still to be supplied?" (William Sewell)