It wasn't explicit, you had to read into this statement (that studying Cicero was studying Latin):

In fact, though Cicero could never compete with computer games when it comes to ''making learning fun,'' conquering the conjugations of his lost tongue probably makes a lot more sense when it comes to learning to learn than sifting through GOTO statements in Basic, unrelated to our living language.

Adding on, picking on this particular phrase "when it comes to learning to learn": I took Latin and Old English in college, two indispensable (/s) courses for my life (they were actually fun for me, but of greatly limited utility). The main thing I did learn in both (especially as languages and the classics were not my field of study) was how to study. Those were the courses where I finally picked up using flashcards properly, making good notes, etc. just out of necessity (versus my math and CS courses which were, generally, "easy" for me without much effort, I took to them more naturally).