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By Marie Mulvenna
Way back in the olden days there was scarcely a school
child who did not face the inevitable struggle with Latin somewhere in his
schooling career. Murmurings of Latin being a dead language were
widespread among students but nonetheless the dead language
appeared annually on the roster of required subjects. And the students annually
plowed through reams of words, grammar and familiar phrases such as the famed
Veni, vidi, vici.
Latin studies are still around, but are most definitely on the
decline, as evidenced by recent surveys of Catholic schools throughout the
country. Here in Atlanta, Latin still appears on the curriculum of both Marist
High School and St. Pius, but has faded into the past of St. Josephs High
School.
Father James Harnett, S.M., principal of Marist, replied with a
laugh to the query: What is the status of Latin at Marist? His
comment was: one foot on the banana peel and one in the grave.
A former Latin teacher himself, Father Hartnett explained that
Marist still offers Latin to students as part of the two-year language
requirement along with German, French and Spanish. Most of the students
taking Latin, and they number about 35, are in their first and second
year, Father Hartnett added, commenting that after the second year the
Latin enrollment drops badly.
Kids just dont see it as practical because it
isnt spoken, Father said, adding that students are quick to comment
that there just arent any Romans walking around these days.
Father Hartnett personally feels the study of Latin is invaluable
and serves as a basis for so many other languages, especially the romance
languages. Its marvelous for training in precision thinking and you
just cant beat the etymology for understanding of words.
Over at St. Pius, Sister Catherine said Latin is offered students,
along with French and Spanish, to fulfill the two years of language required by
the school. Sister explained that enrollment takes in over ten percent of the
freshman class but drops to a grand total of only 17 students in junior and
senior years.
Sister Catherine feels strongly that the study of Latin
gives a good grasp of the English vocabulary and is invaluable in
scientific terminology. Some parents agree, she adds, and have requested
that it be continued as part of Pius scholastic program. Sister said she
felt that part of the decline in the popularity of Latin studies might possibly
be due to liturgical changes of recent years and the use of the vernacular in
celebrating Mass.
For the first time in the history of St. Josephs High
School, Latin is not being offered as part of the curriculum. Sister Elizabeth,
dean of studies, explained that enrollment was poor last year four
students and only one expressed a desire to choose it for a second year.
It just wasnt feasible, economically, to have a teacher for only
one student, Sister said. St. Josephs does offer French and
Spanish, although no language studies are required of the students. We do
encourage children who have intentions of going to college to take at least two
years of a language, she added.
Sister stated that she felt students today prefer Romance
languages over Latin, adding that a noteworthy point was the decline in
colleges, requiring Latin for entrance. She personally feels it is an excellent
basis for the study of English.
Whether Latin would ever be returned to St. Josephs program
was uncertain, Sister commented.
The teaching of Latin seems to be at the lowest ebb ever in
Catholic schools, said Brother Francis Markert, chairman of the Latin
department at Cardinal Hayes High School in New York City. One of the main
objections students present, Brother Markert said, is that it is not spoken,
but he adds that students who take four years of modern languages
cant hold everyday conversations in those languages either.
The value of Latin as an aid in studying English, a point
mentioned by all the Atlanta school officials, was underlined by Paul Detro who
teaches Latin at La Salle Academy in Providence, R.I. I cant
imagine those who had Latin writing the sentences kids get away with
today, said Dutro, who also is a teacher of English.
The status of Latin in Atlantas archdiocesan high schools is
comparable to that of other Catholic high schools nationwide. Although many
still require language studies for a prescribed period of years, many do not
require that Latin per se be the object of their students attention. The
result seems to be that fewer and fewer students are giving it much attention
at all.
For generations of Catholic school students, fond memories of
Latin conjugations will be lonely memories indeed, unshared by their offspring
who can no longer recite the popular ditty of yesteryear:
Latin is a language
As dead as dead can be,
Its killed all those Romans,
And now its killing me. |