Winter 2016
The Way We’re Teaching Latin
In the past, I’ve written a few silly articles for the
Torch that appeal to the light-hearted aspects of JCL
culture, but here, I’m hoping to take on a more serious
tone about an issue that deeply concerns me. It involves
the way we design curricula and content standards for
Latin students in high school around the country.
Over the past few years as a JCLer, I have been
astonished by the
sheer knowledge and
zeal many students my
age have for studying
the Classics. But more
and more commonly
today, I find students
hungry to learn more
about Roman history,
culture, and mythology
but dreading the Latin
language itself. Worse yet, some teachers succumb to the
pressure of their students, modifying curricula to reflect an
increased emphasis on such areas rather than translating
and reading Latin.
For me, this has
been a rather upsetting
shift in the way we as a
society are educating
the next generation of
classical scholars. Latin,
as we are all aware, is a
difficult and complex
language, which
certainly has been a
key contributor in the
creation of such a
dilemma. I have to
admit that it is
frustrating to hear
Spanish students in my
grade who boast that
they are a mere couple years from fluency.
nationwide, more and more Latin students will graduate
high school having never even read a line from this
monumental work, which exemplifies Latin at its very best.
The end result is a pitiable feedback loop. Students
aren’t learning enough of the language to be prepared to
read from the Aeneid and other superb works their junior
and senior years of high school. I