Latin to be introduced at 40 state secondaries in England

[Cactus Jack]

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2 ... es-england

Latin is to be taught at state schools across England in an effort to counter the subject’s reputation as one that is “elitist” and largely at private schools.

A £4m Department for Education (DfE) scheme will initially be rolled out across 40 schools as part of a four-year pilot programme for 11- to 16-year-olds starting in September 2022.

According to a British Council survey, Latin is taught at key stage three in less than 3% of state schools, compared with 49% of independent schools.

The education secretary, Gavin Williamson, said: “We know Latin has a reputation as an elitist subject which is only reserved for the privileged few. But the subject can bring so many benefits to young people, so I want to put an end to that divide.”

All those things you thought were wrong with education, who had not enough Latin in schools?

Anybody?

And of course I can't resist

[Raggamuffin]

I did Latin at school, and I never really found it very useful.

[Stooo]

You need Latin to learn Classics, guess what Johnson has a degree in and Mogg loves quoting...

What is the point? Medical and legal terms are generally translated to plain English and the Germans have kicked it out of their official terminology.

Good old regressive UK, speaking Latin makes you sound like a pretentious twat because you are.

[HobbitFeet]

They teach latin at my daughter's school, those showing an aptitude for languages are offered it - and hers was a perfectly normal state school

it's an after school activity, but they can do a GCSE or the equivalent in it

she lasted a term

I should add she's left now, college beckons

[Stooo]

They teach latin at my daughter's school, those showing an aptitude for languages are offered it - and hers was a perfectly normal state school

it's an after school activity, but they can do a GCSE or the equivalent in it

she lasted a term

They are installing traditional British institutions such as learning a dead foreign language

[common sense]

Latin is basically a dead language. I did French and German and have never needed either in real life.

[Stooo]

Latin is basically a dead language. I did French and German and have never needed either in real life.

I've used both, French is a piece of piss.

[Text]

I did Latin at school, and I never really found it very useful.

Hmmm. Was anything you were forced to learn at school (apart from the 3 R's at elementary school) been "useful" to you? Singing lessons in the school choir? literature? poems?

I don't think everything should be about necessity, what about enjoyment, fun, ....... and crucially - training the brain to learn new info -optimum time to do this is in the younger years, does not really matter what the actual content is.
Dad studied classical Latin & Greek. I think he felt it looked good on his CV.
I studied Latin one day a week over two years at school, liked it very much, still do, but that's just me.

But impoverished people studying Latin these days is a waste of time and precious resources imo. Ludicrous! Not the best way to equip the next generation with sorely needed survival skills.

[Text]

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2021/jul/31/latin-introduced-40-state-secondaries-england

Latin is to be taught at state schools across England in an effort to counter the subject’s reputation as one that is “elitist” and largely at private schools.

A £4m Department for Education (DfE) scheme will initially be rolled out across 40 schools as part of a four-year pilot programme for 11- to 16-year-olds starting in September 2022.

According to a British Council survey, Latin is taught at key stage three in less than 3% of state schools, compared with 49% of independent schools.

The education secretary, Gavin Williamson, said: “We know Latin has a reputation as an elitist subject which is only reserved for the privileged few. But the subject can bring so many benefits to young people, so I want to put an end to that divide.”

All those things you thought were wrong with education, who had not enough Latin in schools?

Anybody?

And of course I can't resist

Cactus! It's not like you to miss the obvious punchline to your own thread. which is .... 'Teach them the basics of English first'.

[Raggamuffin]

I did Latin at school, and I never really found it very useful.

Hmmm. Was anything you were forced to learn at school (apart from the 3 R's at elementary school) been "useful" to you? Singing lessons in the school choir? literature? poems?

I don't think everything should be about necessity, what about enjoyment, fun, ....... and crucially - training the brain to learn new info -optimum time to do this is in the younger years, does not really matter what the actual content is.
Dad studied classical Latin & Greek. I think he felt it looked good on his CV.
I studied Latin one day a week over two years at school, liked it very much, still do, but that's just me.

But impoverished people studying Latin these days is a waste of time and precious resources imo. Ludicrous! Not the best way to equip the next generation with sorely needed survival skills.

Latin was a standard subject at my school, and I did it to O level. I failed the first time and passed the second time.

Some things have been useful I suppose, but I would like to have done more practical subjects. Some people at my school were allowed to learn to type but I wasn't. I wasn't allowed to do German either. In retrospect I would have chosen different subjects for O levels and A levels and done more science-based subjects. I particularly regret doing history.

[drum]

I did Latin at school, and I never really found it very useful.

Hmmm. Was anything you were forced to learn at school (apart from the 3 R's at elementary school) been "useful" to you? Singing lessons in the school choir? literature? poems?

I don't think everything should be about necessity, what about enjoyment, fun, ....... and crucially - training the brain to learn new info -optimum time to do this is in the younger years, does not really matter what the actual content is.
Dad studied classical Latin & Greek. I think he felt it looked good on his CV.
I studied Latin one day a week over two years at school, liked it very much, still do, but that's just me.

But impoverished people studying Latin these days is a waste of time and precious resources imo. Ludicrous! Not the best way to equip the next generation with sorely needed survival skills.

Latin was a standard subject at my school, and I did it to O level. I failed the first time and passed the second time.

Some things have been useful I suppose, but I would like to have done more practical subjects. Some people at my school were allowed to learn to type but I wasn't. I wasn't allowed to do German either. In retrospect I would have chosen different subjects for O levels and A levels and done more science-based subjects. I particularly regret doing history.

I did German and Secretarial Studies, I looked out old school reports and last Latin exam was in 2nd year, I dropped it by 3rd. I got 53% and awarded a C . Can barely remember a thing other than Ecce Romani, the title of the book we learned from. Failed typing, only really picking that up when I got involved with computers, I was alright at German, my best subject was Geography , I always got high marks, last exam 86% . I do wish I had improved on that

[Cactus Jack]

Moderately interesting: Pope Francis has recently said the Latin Mass is redundant.

The Latin Mass has been very much a secondary format for Catholics since the second Vatican Council in 1963 however there has been a very strong traditionalist movement who had held onto the Old Form mass for nearly sixty years. Now the Pope has come out and said priests must offer services in what is termed the vernacular - that is the language or dialect spoken by the majority of people in a country or territory.

I mention this because it shows the Conservative government's education policy is now less progressive than the Catholic church.

[Maddog]

I did Latin at school, and I never really found it very useful.

Hmmm. Was anything you were forced to learn at school (apart from the 3 R's at elementary school) been "useful" to you? Singing lessons in the school choir? literature? poems?

I don't think everything should be about necessity, what about enjoyment, fun, ....... and crucially - training the brain to learn new info -optimum time to do this is in the younger years, does not really matter what the actual content is.
Dad studied classical Latin & Greek. I think he felt it looked good on his CV.
I studied Latin one day a week over two years at school, liked it very much, still do, but that's just me.

But impoverished people studying Latin these days is a waste of time and precious resources imo. Ludicrous! Not the best way to equip the next generation with sorely needed survival skills.

Latin was a standard subject at my school, and I did it to O level. I failed the first time and passed the second time.

Some things have been useful I suppose, but I would like to have done more practical subjects. Some people at my school were allowed to learn to type but I wasn't. I wasn't allowed to do German either. In retrospect I would have chosen different subjects for O levels and A levels and done more science-based subjects. I particularly regret doing history.

I did German and Secretarial Studies, I looked out old school reports and last Latin exam was in 2nd year, I dropped it by 3rd. I got 53% and awarded a C . Can barely remember a thing other than Ecce Romani, the title of the book we learned from. Failed typing, only really picking that up when I got involved with computers, I was alright at German, my best subject was Geography , I always got high marks, last exam 86% . I do wish I had improved on that

I took 4 years of German and two of Latin..

The only foreign language I speak at all is Spanish because I'm around so many Hispanic people..

I wish I had studied Spanish instead.

[Cactus Jack]

Is this the time to remind everyone how Dan Quayle once mused that he wished he spoke Latin so he could speak to people in Latin America?

[Maddog]

Is this the time to remind everyone how Dan Quayle once mused that he wished he spoke Latin so he could speak to people in Latin America?

Dan said some dumb things, but not that dumb thing.



https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/quayle-quotes/