Taking Latin/classics in HS - best schools for this?
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Anonymous
| Maret. The kids are often double languaging and kids really like the teacher. |
Anonymous
| Why do students opt for Latin over languages that are widely spoken like Spanish or French? |
Anonymous
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being intentionally vague here, but i’m someone who has been highly involved in latin/classics at the state and national level, and i’m pretty familiar with the classics programs of schools in the area!
i would say that the number one extracurricular classics program will be at TJ simply because there’s such a depth of talented/involved students. the students there are REALLY passionate about latin, their club is active, their certamen is well run, and they win national championships fairly often. they’ll definitely be the strongest choice for certamen at the moment and they have a pretty big program. that being said, they’re still a public school and are restricted by FCPS. they only have one latin teacher (she’s amazing though) and they now have a weird schedule in which students take DE before AP latin (a little odd imo, but not terrible). tj has the most passionate student body when it comes to classics, at least right now. flint hill used to be really good. they’re still decent, but not what they used to be. they have 3 classics teachers for middle and high school, most of whom are pretty good. they used to be amazing at certamen but tbh it’s been lacking for a while, the teachers don’t run regular practices the way they do at tj and its a bit disorganized, so they don’t win the way they used to. overall less enthusiasm because they’re a smaller school with simply fewer kids to get excited about latin. that being said, they have a decent sized delegation at vjcl convention, they pretty much always have officers on the board, and they do njcl online exams, latin league, medusa myth, etc. (they don’t perform as well on those exams as tj kids, but tj obviously has a generally stronger student body). the classics club is pretty active. as for classes, they have latin 1 through post AP., plus greek 1-2 (maybe adding 3?). they’ll do post ap latin for one kid if needed, and it’s overall a really good experience class wise. sssas is trending in the right direction imo. they also have 3 latin teachers and all of them are great. they have a similarly sized delegation as flint hill at vjcl. i’d say the two schools perform pretty similarly and sssas also usually has a state officer or two. i believe they also have latin 1-post ap and sometimes greek. their club is a bit less active than flint hill i think but definitely exists. i believe that their middle school certamen teams are quite good and the middle school teacher is pretty involved in coaching them, which is a good sign that there will soon be talented students in the high school. other public schools that are good are hayfield (only one latin teacher but she’s AMAZING and super involved in jcl), robinson (has a massive delegation at vjcl, not sure what they generally do), lightridge maybe? yorktown has some talented students too. i saw sidwell mentioned here, i think they have a good latin teacher but they aren’t super involved in jcl stuff which will be fun for a kid who loves latin. i honestly wouldn’t choose any dc schools for latin except st anselms (had one kid who was crazy at certamen a while ago but i haven’t seen him in a while) and basis (but i think they changed their curriculum so there’s no latin in middle school, which will hurt them. they’ve had some very good latin students though). i also saw dominion christian mentioned. their latin teacher is a former njcl president. she’s new but i think they’re going to be good in the future. that being said, i believe the school is definitely on the conservative side. for maryland schools, i think bryn mawr is pretty good (for girls) and gilman is pretty good for boys. i think bryn mawr girls actually take latin at gilman. i don’t know a lot about maryland latin programs, but id say VA is stronger across the board. hope this helps! let me know if i can answer any questions. |
Anonymous
| 23:36 that is incredibly helpful, thank you! |
Anonymous
Learning Latin actually improves your English and it shapes the brain in an organized way. It deepens your vocabulary and understanding of grammar, because a large portion of English comes from Latin and other romance languages. It also helps learning romance languages; Spanish being a must in the US (Spanish has been spoken in North America much longer than the US formed, as the larger pat of the now US was Spanish), French, Portuguese, Italian, Romanian... Learning Latin is great for kids (and adults) who like brain challenges. Through the language, you also learn a lot of the history, culture and philosophy that form today's societies, from art, architecture to political and legal systems. Certain fields use Latin words (law, medicine, biology, sciences...) and you can find Latin in everyday life as well: E Pluribus Unum (out of many, one), Justitia Omnibus, (justice for all, which is the DC motto), Utraque Unum (both into one, Georgetown University motto), Novus Ordo Seclorum (a new order for the ages, on the back of the $1 bills)... |
Anonymous
My kid likes Latin because he likes learning/thinking about complicated grammar structures and how that impacts meaning and about the importance of word choice during translation. He's a math kid, and Latin feels more math-y to him. He also likes learning etymology. It's definitely less practical. |
Anonymous
Because Latin is the basis for Spanish, French, Italian and a host of other languages. If you understand Latin, you can generally read with some comprehension the deriviative languages off of Latin. Maybe can't speak it but comprehend it. Also, Spanish and French aren't tested on the SAT/ACT but being able to understand root meanings of words are...i.e., Latin. |
Anonymous
Adding to what other people have said, some kids are just interested in it. I took Latin (in college, our high school Latin teacher died), because I was interested in Roman history. |
Anonymous
| +1 for SSSAS. One of our just-graduated seniors won the Wayne Wray scholarship from the Classical Society of Virginia a couple weeks ago, and the school sends kids to VA gov school’s Latin program most summers. It offers a World Language Certificate for students who study two languages and many have Latin as one of the two. |
Anonymous
says the biased lib with no direct experience - take it with a grain of salt; wish my child attended The Heights but content elsewhere. |
Anonymous
Thanks for proving my point. |
Anonymous
| The best school? Washington Latin. It's in the name. |
Anonymous
OP here, my kid also takes French. Ideally she'd continue in both, but Latin is what she really enjoys. Thanks for the school recs! |
Anonymous
Nah - the Heights is right-wing full stop, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the school isn’t solid to excellent. A family we know and respect attends, but it wouldn’t be the right fit for us — we are at another all-boys Catholic. |
Anonymous
| I can't believe it took 2 pages of comments before someone mentioned Washington Latin. It's an amazing school--both of my kids have thrived there. And it's FREE!!! |