Why Latin?
Latin is taught at Midland Christian School because it teaches universal language skills, requires attention to detail, necessitates sound reasoning and exists within a significant historic context. Students who understand Latin are equipped to use that knowledge to learn other languages more easily, to understand the role language can play in history and have an improved understanding of English grammar, which helps them to be better writers and communicators. When they take the SAT in high school, students’ knowledge of Latin will allow them to correctly identify the meanings of many more words than the average student who hasn’t studied Latin.
The study of Latin gives a student an analytical skill that produces benefits in all of life. Ultimately, Latin helps to educate the whole person. As Harry Mount described in his essay "A Vote for Latin":
"...learning to translate Latin into English and vice versa is a tremendous way to train the mind. I think of translating concise, precise Latin into more expansive, discursive English as like opening up a concertina; you are allowed to inject all sorts of original thought and interpretation. As much as opening the concertina enlarges your imagination, squeezing it shut — translating English into Latin — sharpens your prose. Because Latin is a dead language, not in a constant state of flux as living languages are, there’s no wriggle room in translating. If you haven’t understood exactly what a particular word means or how a grammatical rule works, you are likely to be, not off, but just plain wrong."
- Classical Model
- What is Classical?
- Education Comparison
- Why Logic
- Why Rhetoric
- Why Latin
- Classical Resources
