The Sunday Sun wants your opinion on reinstating Latin in schools

Monday, January 05, 2009

Cippus in quo invenitur antiquissimum exemplum Latinae Linguae, sub Lapide Nigro in Foro Romano

An article is out today about the subject of reinstating Latin in schools in the UK, which is something I've written on before here and think is a good idea. One part of the article:

But how can pupils benefit from an archaic language which effectively died out 1000 years ago?

Peter Jones — a former lecturer, author of Vote for Caesar and head of the Newcastle-based Friends of Classics charity — explained: “Around half of the English language has Latin roots so it will give you a deeper understanding of how languages develop.

“For example, if you know that porto means ‘to carry’ in Latin you can then understand the root and meaning of a host of English words such as transport, heliport, sea port, but also similar words in other languages such as French or Portuguese.

“It is also a practical language if you want to study botany, the law or medicine, although it’s not a requirement.”

Mr Jones also scoffed at suggestions it was an elitist subject. He said: “Latin is not just for toffs, but for everyone. But it must be available to be taught in state schools as well as public schools.”

The newspaper also wants your opinion on the subject and you can give it here (I've already written my opinion). The forum seems to have been set up just in the past month or so.

I would prefer medieval Latin as seen here, but any will do.

0 comments:

  © Blogger templates Newspaper by Ourblogtemplates.com 2008

Back to TOP