What Ancient Greek Is Good For
This article explores the enduring value of a classical education in the age of AI, arguing that studying subjects like ancient Greek fosters critical thinking and human understanding. It contrasts the perceived 'uselessness' of humanities with the rapid obsolescence of some technical skills.
Why it matters
The piece addresses the existential anxiety surrounding the future of work and education in a world increasingly dominated by artificial intelligence.
The point of a classical education is to learn something about being human.
Illustration by The Atlantic. Source: Culture Club / Getty July 16, 2026, 2:59 PM ET Share Save This is an edition of Time-Travel Thursdays, a journey through The Atlantic ’s archives to contextualize the present. Sign up here.
Late one night in 1925, a classics professor named Carol Wight came across “one of the most interesting men” he’d ever met. In an Atlantic essay , Wight recalled finding a mechanic reading Thucydides on the grimy floor of his shop, a bare bulb illuminating his page. The worker said that he read the ancient historian “because he makes me think.” As though testing him, Wight asked the question every student of the classics hears at one time or another: “What good will that do you?”
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