Traditionally, a good education always included a substantial dose of classic literature. Students became familiar with the wisest and most beautiful things ever put down in writing—vital contact with their cultural heritage that expressed through art the heights and depths of the human condition.
The reading of good fiction and poetry was considered essential to the development of the full human person and the extension of all the powers of mind and heart along wholesome avenues. Literature opens the eyes to see and the heart to embrace the good, the true, and the beautiful.
