Latin Rebirth in Schools

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I have a love/hate relationship with Latin. On one hand I love the connection to the language of saints of the past, especially the Psalms. On the other hand it is elitist, even many saints did not know it well and today it’s mastery is virtually for professionals only. And while it is the language of the Church it is also the language of the oppressive Roman Empire.

And the Mass, while it can seem more reverent, more sacred it can also seem more stuffy and less accessible.
 
Michael_Mayo said:
And while it is the language of the Church it is also the language of the oppressive Roman Empire.
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Oppressive enough that the U.S. forefathers tried to emulate their government? Three branches of government, Senate, Cabinet, two parties, etc. 😉

Actually Vulgar Latin would have been the street language of the “oppressives,” and this language is what eventually became the basis for the Romance languages we have today. Whereas the Church adopted the codified vocabulary and grammar of Cicero et al, whose moral code influenced the early Church fathers. If anything is elitist, it is the watering down of this moral code within our society.
 
If I were still on the school board I would not opt for Latin over Spanish or other languages. I’m not against students learning it, but I would be against devoting school resources to Latin over the languages used around the world, which are important for careers and possibly mission work.
 
clem456 said:
If I were still on the school board I would not opt for Latin over Spanish or other languages. I’m not against students learning it, but I would be against devoting school resources to Latin over the languages used around the world, which are important for careers and possibly mission work.
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Clem, this has been the general policy in the U.S. since the late 50’s as far as I remember.
 
ProVobis said:
Clem, this has been the general policy in the U.S. since the late 50’s as far as I remember.
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Our school had a Latin teacher until about the late 60’s. After that time our Catholic students could take Latin from the public school conveniently across the street, until about the early 80’s. Our school has been teaching Spanish of course and German at times, although I believe the German program had to be cut unfortunately.
 
Latin being taught in schools is wonderful. Here is an interesting brief article I found on the subject:

privateschool.about.com/cs/articles/a/teachinglatin.htm

Other than that, I feel that Latin is a beautiful language. It can only help to know it, especially for Latin Rite Catholics that want to pray in Latin, listen to Gregorian Chants, attend a Traditional Latin Mass, etc…



The following link is an article I found that makes some very good points in favor of Latin, please check it out (copy and paste into browser if link doesn’t work):

catholicapologetics.info/languages/why/latin.htm

http://www.catholiclatinmass.org/img8.jpg
 
OraLabora said:
Well reading the article I don’t see how this will trickle down to the schools where most kids in N. America study. I don’t expect to see Latin taught around here any time soon.
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Looking around the internet, I would say that English needs to be taught in North America first.
 
I graduated in 1974; had 2 years of public school Latin. Latin was the the most valuable thing I learned in my K-12 education. When my teacher died a few years ago, the funeral was mobbed, and the next day’s paper was full of people expressing thanks for having learned Latin under Miss Morgan’s demanding tutelage.

As an aside, Art History was the most valuable thing I studied in college.

platytera.blogspot.com/2009/02/education-all-that.html
 
It’s about time! My husband and I are childless, but do have an interest in primary and secondary education. He is Lutheran, went to a public school, and did not study Latin. I studied four years of it. Of course, at the time, I used to say that I “had” Latin, in the same way that one “has” a strep throat!

As I suffered through freshman Latin (I recall mistranslating “avis” as “aves” and said that someone’s grandfather was a nice old bird instead of an illustrious ancestor,) I began to see that Latin is an extremely precise and logical language.

True, I agree that children should be well-schooled in English (in the US,) and that there is sad evidence to the contrary. But I do believe that adding Latin to the curriculum would hone their skills at thinking in verbal and written expression. Unfortunately, the digital age is producing people whose written skills are limited to texting. I recall the first time I received a text message. It was undecipherable, until I sounded it out phonetically. I fear that as more children grow up learning that sort of communication skill, writing will be a lost art. They can certainly use some drilling along the lines of conjugating a verb.

Latin: It’s not just for priests, doctors, and lawyers!
 
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