A knowledge of Greek and Latin was particularly important, in Nock's view, because it allowed people to view the record of inquiring human minds for over 2,500 years. The educated man was capable of independent thought. Unfortunately, Nock believed few people were educable. By contrast, Nock thought most people could be trained. The trainable person profited from instrumental knowledge.
Education contemplates another kind of product.
Nock did not mean to denigrate those who should be trained rather than educated. Thus to Nock, science was a matter of training and many of the world's most eminent men were not educated but trained. The main problem with the American educational system was that, in attempting to educate everyone equally, it encountered Gresham's law and ended up educating no one adequately. Instead, it provided only training, even to those who were educable. What with the political, economic and theological capital that has to be made of it . . .