Why Latin?

While I'm sitting around, waiting for contractions to start, I've been reading the new catalogue from Memoria Press. I really enjoy their articles, and this month there is a great article by Cheryl Lowe (who is the author of "Latin Christiana", our Latin program) entitled "An Apology For Latin and Math". I've been looking for a concise argument as to why we are putting so much emphasis on Latin, and this article does just that. Here is a sample of the article, but I encourage you to read it in its entirety. It's not really very long.

Latin develops the intellectual powers of the mind as no other subject can. Think of physical fitness, a student who is an athlete versus one who is a couch potato. The mind can be developed like the body. How does Latin do it? The best way to understand the power of Latin is to consider something you are probably familiar with; namely, math.

Math is systematic, organized, orderly, logical, and cumulative. In a cumulative study, each skill builds upon the previous one, nothing can be forgotten, everything must be remembered. All knowledge and skills are interrelated. The student continues to build a tower of learning block by block, until he has reached a very high level of skills and knowledge.

Math begins with memorization, computation, fractions, decimals, percent, word problems, and proceeds to problem solving, algebra, geometry, trig, and calculus. Math is hard because it builds so relentlessly year after year through every year of the child's education. Any skill not mastered one year will make work difficult the next year. It is unforgiving. It has to be over-learned. That is why few students reach a high level in math. They reach a glass ceiling because the cumulative nature of the subject catches up with them. Eventually they are over their heads and quit.

How does math develop the intellectual powers of the mind? Math forms the mind of the student to accuracy, logical thinking, problem solving. It is formation, not information. Math truly educates, transforms, changes the mind of the student to become like math, orderly, logical, accurate, organized. The true purpose of education and all of the subjects we study in school is to develop, shape, and transform the mind and character of the student. The nature of the subject transfers its character to the student's mind.

What is special about math? Math is a language. A language is not really a subject. It is something much more basic and fundamental than a subject. Astronomy is a subject. The Civil War is a subject. Science, history, literature, government, and sociology are subjects. Subjects are by nature topical. Yes, there are basics to any subject, and ideally, they are taught in as cumulative a way as possible. If a student doesn't do well in world history one year, however, he can pick up and do fine the next year in American history. If he zones out during the cell structure, he can wake up and knock off an "A" in the classification system of plants. If he doesn't get Hamlet, he can tune in for Macbeth. Subjects are not as demanding as languages and thus will not produce the same caliber student.

Now what do we have on the language side of the curriculum that is comparable to and that balances the rigorous, challenging, cumulative, formative, study of math? Without Latin, the answer is "Nothing."

Math is important but it is secondary to language skills. In fact, math is dependent upon language skills. The math teacher teaches the concepts in words, and the mathematical symbols are used in place of words so they can be easily manipulated on paper. A truly educated person can be pretty lousy at math, because language skills are still the measure of the educated person, one who can speak and write with clarity and has power over his native language, English.

Latin provides the missing component in modern education, the systematic language training comparable to and balancing the mathematics side of the curriculum. Almost everything I said about math, you could have substituted Latin for, but not English, not science, not history, not French.

Why not English grammar? English is not a classical language; it does not have the structure and form, the logic and the rules. It would be like studying modern architecture or pop music, rather than classical architecture or classical music. English doesn't follow the rules. The Romans were disciplined and their language marched in columns, row after row like soldiers. English is lax and loose, bending and changing wherever it fit our fancy. We are an independent, liberty-loving people, and our language shows it. Languages reflect the culture of the people who speak them. The language influences the character of the people of a nation-and likewise is influenced by it.

Furthermore, students have a very difficult time studying their own language, which they use instinctively. Students have grown up with their own language. They take it for granted. They are bored by it. They are amazingly reluctant to analyze it because they can already put it to practical use. Beyond that, English grammar is abstract whereas Latin is concrete. In Latin, you know the direct object because it is in the accusative case. In English you have to figure it out based on the context. By teaching a language that is very different from English, the student, for the first time, really starts to see how his own language works. His own language comes alive.

I just love the comparison between Latin and math. Obviously I am a math person, and the one part of English that I always really enjoyed was the orderly part--diagramming sentences, seeing how everything fit together. And that is what I love about Latin too--it's just so darn orderly! So anyhow, for what it's worth. Something for you to think about!