Latin--Any Of Your Kids Take It In School? (1 Viewer)

[chet]

My 12yo (grade 7) daughter takes it and wants to drop it. We met with the teacher today and I really want her to continue. The teacher agrees.

Any FBGs have thoughts on Latin?

 

[Eephus]

Eadday anguageslay uleray

 

[Ilov80s]

Why Latin???

 

[-fish-]

Took it in college.

Close to useless. Have her learn a language that could help her get a job, or get out of a mexican prison.

 

[saintfool]

What would she like to study other than Lati

 

[-fish-]

fatipus satipus

on the deskolorum

deskus collapsus

fati on the florum

That's it. That's what I remember from years of Latin studies.

 

[chet]

Took it in college.

Close to useless. Have her learn a language that could help her get a job, or get out of a mexican prison.

She already is fluent in French and is taking Mandarin. Spanish or German starts next year or grade 9.

 

[-fish-]

Took it in college.

Close to useless. Have her learn a language that could help her get a job, or get out of a mexican prison.

She already is fluent in French and is taking Mandarin. Spanish or German starts next year or grade 9.

Latin will help a lot more with German than Spanish.

 

[kutta]

I took it in high school. It was one of the best classes I ever took. We were required to take 2 years of it, and I loved it. It helped my English tremendously, and I became really fascinated with ancient Rome.

I think it's a good thing.

 

[Arizona Ron]

Yeah have her pick up Sanskrit instead.

 

[Fennis]

Klingon

 

[Ilov80s]

Let her switch, it's not like she is lazy and just doesn't want to learn a language. If she is so passionate about school, let her pick classes she is interested in.

 

[Fennis]

what does Ray Liotta think?

 

[lbouchard]

My son did. He says that it helped him with his English vocabulary, specifically on the SATs. He ended up getting a 2340 so I believe him. He also says that it helped him with his presentation skills. He was in a class with only 6 kids and was required to present something nearly every day. That might be more school specific though.

 

[Brony]

I'd let her drop it. Should be illegal for any employer to require fluency in Latin

 

[Osaurus]

Caecilius est iratus

 

[T Bell]

Depends on if you want a Latino grandchild, amiright?

 

[chet]

I took it in high school. It was one of the best classes I ever took. We were required to take 2 years of it, and I loved it. It helped my English tremendously, and I became really fascinated with ancient Rome.

I think it's a good thing.

Exactly what I am thinking and what the teacher said.

 

[Abraham]

5 years - 7th through 11th. Wish I had taken it more seriously.

 

[bigbottom]

Both my boys took/are taking Latin. One of their favorite classes. It runs from 6th grade until 11th grade. A lot of it is language, but there is also history, literature and other disciplines thrown in.

 

[flysack]

I took it in high school. It was one of the best classes I ever took. We were required to take 2 years of it, and I loved it. It helped my English tremendously, and I became really fascinated with ancient Rome.

I think it's a good thing.

Exactly what I am thinking and what the teacher said.

Agree with this. I took 3 semesters of it in college because it wasn't offered at my high school. Absolutely loved it. It really helps your understanding of English grammar as well as serves as a great stepping stone to learning any Romance languages later on.

Try to talk her into sticking with it, Chet.

 

[commoncents]

Took it for five years from 7th grade through 11th. Don't remember any of the language itself. However, the class was 60% history of ancient Rome and 40% translating the Iliad and the Odyssey from Latin to English. Helped tremendously with vocabulary and SAT's.

 

[jamny]

e pluribus unum

 

[FattyVM]

Latin is useful in alot of higher education. Almost all of the sciences use it, philosophy, law, mathematics... not to mention it is a key building block in most of the typical modern languages...

 

[FattyVM]

I should add... if you do let her drop it, make her take mandarin to be ahead of the curve in 15 years.

 

[Grace Under Pressure]

Every kid should learn Latin. Declining nouns and conjugating verbs with the Romance base is a great foundation for learning any of the Romance languages.

She's covering Spanish, French and Mandarin with a Latin base? Kid's going to be working for the State Department on international posts by the time she's 25.

 

[dozer]

Doc : In vino veritas.

Ringo : Age quod agis.

Doc : Credat Judaeus Apella, non ego.

Ringo : Juventus stultorum magister.

Doc : In pace requiescat!

 

[avoiding injuries]

I took two years of it. Waste of time.

 

[bigbottom]

I took two years of it. Waste of time.

Did you like the class?

 

[Abraham]

I should add... if you do let her drop it, make her take mandarin to be ahead of the curve in 15 years.

I took Chinese in college. 4 semesters. Wish I'd taken that more seriously as well.

 

[IvanKaramazov]

I never took Latin, but I wish I had. It seems to me that Latin and Greek are consistently underrated relative to the modern languages. For 99.99% of westerners, Mandarin has zero value, whereas studying a classical language opens up doors to your own cultural history.

 

[Courtjester]

I wish it was made available for my daughter. In High School she gets a choice of Spanish, ,French or German---nothing more,

I took 3 years of it in High School and loved it. Great help with English words and of course, law.

 

[cstu]

I took it in high school. It was one of the best classes I ever took. We were required to take 2 years of it, and I loved it. It helped my English tremendously, and I became really fascinated with ancient Rome.

I think it's a good thing.

Exactly what I am thinking and what the teacher said.

I am shocked that a Latin teacher would say it's good for her to take Latin. Shocked, I tell you.

 

[The_Man]

My 12yo (grade 7) daughter takes it and wants to drop it. We met with the teacher today and I really want her to continue. The teacher agrees.

Any FBGs have thoughts on Latin?

I think there are two questions involved here. One is about the value of Latin. The other is about why you would let your 7th Grade kid drop a class midway through the school year. I would never let that happen - it's just letting her know she can quit something when it gets too hard or she's bored by it. It's setting a terrible precedent.

Now maybe you're talking about planning her schedule for 8th grade, and the decision is whether or not to continue Latin in future years after she finishes it this year. In that instance, I would probably let her pick her own schedule - if she already speaks French and Chinese, she obviously has an aptitude for languages. So if she doesn't find Latin rewarding, why force it on her? Let her go learn Spanish, which will probably be very easy for her.

While I took Latin for 4 years and really liked it, I don't think it has any more intrinsic value than any other language, when it comes to SAT prep. If she speaks French, is good at English, and picks up Spanish, she's going to know what all the Latin prefixes and suffixes mean anyway. And it doesn't help with Law either - no kid ever got into Harvard Law because she knew what nolo contendere meant and another applicant didn't.

Long story short - make her finish it this year, so she learns she can't quit something midstream when it gets hard or boring. But if she's a good language student and decides she would rather pursue a different language in future years, let her.

 

[johnnycakes]

Took it in college.

Close to useless. Have her learn a language that could help her get a job, or get out of a mexican prison.

She already is fluent in French and is taking Mandarin. Spanish or German starts next year or grade 9.

I never took Latin, but of the people I do know who took it, I'd be hard pressed to find any who felt it had any real value.

Spanish is extremely easy, though... but not German. Taking Mandarin, Latin, and German at the same time might be overwhelming for a 9th grader... tell her she can drop Latin if she takes German instead of Spanish.

ETA: I agree with the sentiment that Latin should not be dropped mid-year. At least not without a really good reason. By "drop Latin", I had interpreted that as meaning "next year or going into grade 9." That interpretation may not be valid.

 

[rockaction]

I never took Latin, but I wish I had. It seems to me that Latin and Greek are consistently underrated relative to the modern languages. For 99.99% of westerners, Mandarin has zero value, whereas studying a classical language opens up doors to your own cultural history.

Total agreement. I wish my high school had offered it. I'm always a little jealous when people can start busting out Greek and Latin.

 

[avoiding injuries]

I took two years of it. Waste of time.

Did you like the class?

Interesting that you would ask, because I loved it. The teacher was a retired lawyer with a lot of real world experience and taught me more than any other teacher I had. The Latin just never helped me.

 

[FattyVM]

I took Chinese in college. 4 semesters. Wish I'd taken that more seriously as well.

I wish I had some background in it. It would have opened so many doors when I was in the tech industry up until last year, and I imagine once I'm done here at lawschool it would be an amazing selling point to any future employer.

Plus, the culture is cool and I'd love to go over there one day, and it would be nice to communicate without a translation machine.

 

[johnnycakes]

I took Chinese in college. 4 semesters. Wish I'd taken that more seriously as well.

I wish I had some background in it. It would have opened so many doors when I was in the tech industry up until last year, and I imagine once I'm done here at lawschool it would be an amazing selling point to any future employer.

Plus, the culture is cool and I'd love to go over there one day, and it would be nice to communicate without a translation machine.

Believe me, you WOULD love to go there one day.

 

[bigbottom]

I took Chinese in college. 4 semesters. Wish I'd taken that more seriously as well.

I wish I had some background in it. It would have opened so many doors when I was in the tech industry up until last year, and I imagine once I'm done here at lawschool it would be an amazing selling point to any future employer.

Plus, the culture is cool and I'd love to go over there one day, and it would be nice to communicate without a translation machine.

Believe me, you WOULD love to go there one day.

Hey, welcome back!

 

[johnnycakes]

I took Chinese in college. 4 semesters. Wish I'd taken that more seriously as well.

I wish I had some background in it. It would have opened so many doors when I was in the tech industry up until last year, and I imagine once I'm done here at lawschool it would be an amazing selling point to any future employer.

Plus, the culture is cool and I'd love to go over there one day, and it would be nice to communicate without a translation machine.

Believe me, you WOULD love to go there one day.

Hey, welcome back!

thank you very much! It's nice to be missed.

 

[chet]

Agreed--welcome back JC.

She won't drop it mid year and will take it next year. Dropping mid year was never considered--sorry for the confusion.

 

[johnnycakes]

Agreed--welcome back JC.

I love you too, Chet... :hugs: