In winding up Book I, Augustine gives thanks to God for the goodness in man’s nature, in his own, despite the temptations of folly that steered him off in directions other than what his elders and academic teaching tried to force onto him.
There’s a balance he tries, I think, to reach between the scholarly and the natural instincts of learning. While he derides himself for his interests in playing rather than study, he at the same time questions the methods by which he was taught, as well as the subject matter. He appears to question the time spent in learning prose when instead of seeking reward in competition of lessons well-learnt, he might have been learning the true nature of his fellow mates, and more, of God.
My sin consisted in this, that I sought pleasure, sublimity, and truth not in God but in his creatures, in myself and other created beings. (I:31)
This would seem that Augustine believes that the things of the world are not only unimportant, as I seem to recall from Boethius’ Consolation of Philosophy, but draw one away from the primary purpose of seeking Good. But the basics of knowledge, of language and science and theology and history are necessary to lay a groundwork upon which to build a framework of understanding, and thus honoring God by using the talents given in combination with learning.
The Lost Children: A Charity Anthology