“I took Latin and French for 4 years (1957-’61)...Not one job required or benefited from either.”
I’m a doctor, so Latin (3 years in high school from an ex-Jesuit priest) did provide a little bit of direct help to my career. But that’s not the point. It’s not about my job.
Perhaps your understanding of the benefits of Latin is incomplete. For me, the struggle to learn Latin was enormously important in disciplining my mind, much the way math was. In addition, the opportunity to more deeply understand and more directly enjoy the beauty of the greatest minds from antiquity was incalculable. Ten years ago, when I returned to an enjoyment of such things again after a thirty year hiatus, that foundation was enormously helpful in ways I never would have predicted.
The French Jesuits missionaries in the early part of America kept a journal of all their work. The were Latin-linguists and as a result they were able to decipher the natives languages with relative ease, even though they were not using Latin. They found that the natives reversed the order of their prefixes and their suffixes from Latin, or French for that matter. But knowing word structure so well gave the Jesuits an upper hand in translating all of the native languages.
Our entire educational system has been dumbed down. I went back to college to understand what was in our Founders heads when they came up with the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. I went to a college that emphasizes the reading of the original author's works rather than reading an interpretation written in a textbook. It has been one of the most fruitful experience of my life.
My son is in his third year of Latin - he just turned 15. His class really impressed their Latin teacher, and she offered on her own an extra third year course - they do it on Saturdays. (I think she charged $200 for the year! Including summer.)
My wife thought it would be too much for him but I figured he could at least give it a try. I researched a bunch of stuff on the benefits of Latin to try to convince her. Lots of logical thinking, etc. He has a very rational mind, and does very well in it. As well as Spanish now too.
I keep meaning to read some of the classics like he does, but....