U.S. News & World Report article on the resurgence of Latin

Saturday, October 18, 2008


Here's your daily article on the resurgence of Latin, this time from U.S. News & World Report. First a paragraph pretty much the same as the one in the New York Times article two or so weeks ago:

Though it is often considered a dead language, Latin is alive and flourishing in high school classrooms across the country. In the past 10 years, the number of students taking the National Latin Exam has risen by 30,000 to about 135,000, while the number of students taking the Advanced Placement Latin exams has nearly doubled. Some say the resurgence is linked to increased interest in SAT preparation and Latin's ability to help students succeed on the test's verbal section, while others believe young adults' obsession with Harry Potter and his Latin spells are driving the trend. But popular Latin teachers like Roach suggest that dynamic, enthusiastic educators might actually be the key to the language's surging popularity.
A bit about Latin compared to other languages:
At the Ellis School in Pittsburgh, enrollment in Latin classes is larger than enrollment in the school's French or Spanish programs, says Director of College Counseling Joanna Schultz, who attributes the ancient language's popularity to the excellence of the school's main Latin teacher, Victoria Jordan.
One other interesting paragraph is this one, often seen in other articles as well: there's a shortage of Latin teachers throughout the country so perhaps Latin teacher would be one of the easiest teaching jobs in the country to get for those fluent in the language:
Though Little applauds the work of Latin teachers around the country, he says teachers who retire or switch professions can cause a program with soaring enrollment and high student interest to crumble due to a national shortage of Latin teachers. Schools that lose their Latin teacher and cannot find a replacement are sometimes forced to discontinue the program, he says.

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