Of course when I look at these examples I think of my own kids.
They could not translate Greek or Latin.
They can, however, translate some German. So I am not sure one is superior to the other. In other words, I think it is a characteristic of a good education to know a foreign language (or two!). But I don’t see where Greek or Latin is necessarily superior.
My two adult sons could pass the math test. One has a BS in Physics already. The other is not so gifted, but does higher Algebra with few mistakes. They may not know what a few of the obscure weights and measures are, but then again, the Kansas children of old didn’t know our current references either. So I don’t think that’s indicative of much.
As for the moral qualities, yes, they are essential. No one wants a well educated devil.
I think in re: public schools, they drop the ball on higher math, by necessity higher sciences, and foreign language.
We need not mention the moral degradation.
But we home school. I have tried to do better than that.
And the point is not that it is more useful to know this language or that, use is quite irrelevant. The point is anyone who has completely mastered 2 other languages and those known for their intricate cases and grammar, will be a rigorous conceptual thinker. There is simply no way to succeed at it without training the mind to exactness. You can learn a modern language passably to talk to someone else without any such exactness. It is the difference between knowing analysis at the level of proof and knowing the times table to calculate a tip. One is theoretical knowledge and rigorous training and the other merely isn't. And no, the point is not that moderns know nothing by the time they actually get a hard science degree. The point is we accept as normal that children *entering* college have learned practically nothing, and certainly have not learned how to think clearly and rigorously. Despite a dozen years of formal schooling.
We are surrounded by mediocrity because we accept it. No other reason. Individuals can excel anyway, but they have to do it themselves. As a society we are providing nothing. We live in a cultural wasteland, and there is no denying it or evading it. And that is a self inflicted lobotomy, compared to our entire past.