My 13 year old son has just started learning Latin in his school in Holland and loves it because it is something new and different. Under a Labour government we should be expanding opportunities for children not narrowing them as the Tories consistently did.
This really does need a rethink. It has enabled state school students to learn a classical language that would otherwise be dead to them. It’s about inclusion and widening access. Something this government should be proud of!
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As a pupil at grammar school, I didn't see the relevance of Latin but the six years I studied it were very useful in retrospect, for instance in gardening and also in travelling
Reasons to study Latin:
1) Most of our society still builds on their cultural foundations
2) Their history and arts are ours
3) Teaches kids we do not exist in a vacuum of the past
4) It is a very logical language, and it is a very good exercise
(often it helps even in math)
5) ... more reasons
Aside from providing a foundation for learning modern languages, it was the living lingua franca in Europe (and beyond) until less than 300 years ago so is useful for studying history and literature.
IMHO, the structure of Latin’s grammar is so logical that it helps thinking according to strict rules, in a context that is not math. It trains some of the same skills.
We should require at least a year of classical studies for all students. That doesn't mean students need to sight translate Cicero (I sure can't, not then, not now). But when you appreciate the parallels between ancient and modern civilizations you understand how easily they can collapse.
They use very little because they think it doesn't matter. This is why an electrician who can understand 3 phase power doesn't understand the positive impact of vaccines. Interesting that they distrust public health officials but never question things like dentistry.
Just curious, if someone told you H's wife was named Princess Leia how would you know they were wrong? Appealing to verified sources perhaps? When you answer that you're applying the same principle to other areas, such as health information.
You think it might have come with some critical thinking skills or an appreciation of rational thought? Research skills? No wonder the tech bros are taking over. We're becoming as dumb as the devices we attach to our hips.
Comments
Far more useful for society and the individual would be to teach a mixture of philosophy and critical thinking.
1) Most of our society still builds on their cultural foundations
2) Their history and arts are ours
3) Teaches kids we do not exist in a vacuum of the past
4) It is a very logical language, and it is a very good exercise
(often it helps even in math)
5) ... more reasons
How oxbow lakes are formed
Venn diagrams
How to conjugate the verb Être
That 22 / 7 = π
The name of Henry VIII's 3rd wife
You set em up...