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Figure 1.--. |
Latin used to be a major part if not a central part of a public school education. Latin was central to a classical education and was at the forefront of the curriculum. This importance has declined substantially, but it is still considered of some importance. Ofren not well understood is that a grounding in Latin is helpful in understanding English and larning foreign languages. Latin is taught at virtually all the schools. Here there are differences from school to school depending on the school's academic focus. Often Latin is introduced to the children in Form Three. Some shools introduce even ealier in the pre-prep as part of a classics curriculum. The schools now provide a rigorous introduction to Latin combined with an innovative appreciation of the needs of modern students. Most prep school students take Latin, although many schools may exempt weaker students. Younger students may be introduced to Latin in their form rooms. Older children are taught by specialist Latin teachers. Quite a number of students still pursue Latin to GCSE, A Level, and beyond, but this varies from school to school.
Latin is the base not only of the Romance languages but also of our own English language and grammar. If we are not familiar with the Latin (and Greek) roots, we are deprived of the valuable insight into so many English words and the story behind them, words such as sincere, calculator, tantalise, muscle, trivial, candidate, salary, subjugate, sinister, cereal, to name just a few. Latin teaches the structure of languageand is the base of our English grammar. This is of great relevance todaywhen very little English grammar is taught in our schools. Our misguided educatinalists of the 1960s frowned on instruction in formal grammar, with the result that a whole generation of children has grown up with a very sketchey knowledge of the structure of the language and the standard of written English has sadly declined.
The Aquileon, (Belmont School, Feldemore), 1986-87
.... Latin certainly has been the conerstone of our education over the centuries; from Shakespeare's time the prime subject in the curriculum. Gradually it hs lost ground to other subjects currently fashionable, and has seemed likely to be ousted by technolgical subjects, such as Computer Science. This move would favour the introduction of "Newspeak", George Orwell's reduced and constricting version of English, which featured in his novel, "Nineteen Eighty-Four". Involving as it does a methodical study of language, Latin alone can stem the deterioration of English, threatened nowadays by an impoverished knowledge of expression. We are witnessing the obsolesence of a large number of words through neglect. Latinists, exposed to the width of Latin vocabulary -- the parent of two thirds of the english language, are capable od reviving or preserving these words to ensure an enriched, colourful, wide range of expression for posterity. Those who have not yet learnt Latin may benefit from those who have: development of expression is often through imitation of other's speech, conscious or unconcious.
It is not right to conclude without mntioning the findings of an Ameican University, which experimented with groups of eleven and twelve year olds being educated in inner cities. The results showed that 'within five months substantial gains in word knowledge, reading, language, spelling, maths computation, maths concepts, maths problem solving, Science and Social Science were made by Latinists over non-Latinists. [Apertures Press Note: This is interesting, but I suspect that the study of modern foreign languages would have yielded comparable results.] ....
JDC, Great Walstead Magazine 1987.
Latin is a part of the curriculum for all boys other than those in the most junior block, but an alternative option exists for those who have shown that they are unlikely to benefit from the subject.
Clifton College Preparatory School Prospectus
