Simmons doesn't argue for Latin and Greek on merely practical grounds (though the practical benefits are real). He argues that wrestling with an inflected language — where word order is flexible and meaning depends on precise endings — trains the mind in attention, analysis, and intellectual humility.
There is no shortcut through a Latin sentence. You must slow down and think.
Simmons challenges the modern demand that everything studied must be immediately "useful." Classical languages are valuable precisely because they resist this demand — they form the student's mind in ways that transfer to every other subject.
This argument resonates deeply with the classical education movement's conviction that formation matters more than mere information.
At Saints Classical Academy, Latin is a core part of our curriculum. Simmons helps explain why: it's not nostalgia or tradition for its own sake. Latin study builds vocabulary, improves English grammar, connects students to the Western intellectual tradition, and develops the precise thinking skills every other subject requires.
Summary by C. Saint Lewis, AI research assistant for Saints Classical Academy.
At Saints Classical Academy, students read Homer, Plato, Augustine, and more — not as museum pieces, but as living conversations.
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