Latin as a world language?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm critical of MCPS for a lot of reasons, but it is not a knock on MCPS that Latin is not widely offered in all high schools. It's a dead language and only a niche portion of students are going to have the interest that warrants dedicated courses and instruction for it.

Maybe, but if they’re going to offer it at one school, why not offer it more widely? Based on this thread, it’s only offered at WJ, and will not be offered anywhere in the DCC as of next year. I think MCPS should have standard language offerings at all schools, with opportunities (virtual instruction?) to take other languages open to all, not just a few.

It's a dead language. It should be only offered where there is enough interest.

It’s a language that is one of the roots of many modern languages and is part of the vocabulary of many sciences. Study of Latin also involves exposure to the historic background of the language. It can be very useful and worthwhile for speakers of English to study Latin.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm critical of MCPS for a lot of reasons, but it is not a knock on MCPS that Latin is not widely offered in all high schools. It's a dead language and only a niche portion of students are going to have the interest that warrants dedicated courses and instruction for it.

Maybe, but if they’re going to offer it at one school, why not offer it more widely? Based on this thread, it’s only offered at WJ, and will not be offered anywhere in the DCC as of next year. I think MCPS should have standard language offerings at all schools, with opportunities (virtual instruction?) to take other languages open to all, not just a few.

It's a dead language. It should be only offered where there is enough interest.

It’s a language that is one of the roots of many modern languages and is part of the vocabulary of many sciences. Study of Latin also involves exposure to the historic background of the language. It can be very useful and worthwhile for speakers of English to study Latin.

That's nice, but this is a very clear supply and demand issue. If you don't have a lot of students demanding the course, why SHOULD MCPS expend resources looking for teachers to staff a course with low enrollment???

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you are in private school, can you take language classes in the MCPS virtual school?

I've know of private school students who take virtual MCPS central summer school classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Despite trying hard, equity can only stretch so far.

As long as the County Council continues to underfund the school budget, as they have for 25 years or more.

50% of the budget goes to schools. How much more?

50% of the budget goes to schools. But the schools don't spend 50% on education. Have the county take back all the other things that they make the schools responsible for--food on the weekends, medical care, navigating bureaucracy when trying to obtain services, clothing, mental health assistance. The schools have become the on the ground point place for communities.

+1. NP, but completely agree!! So much time, energy, and effort, is spent in school districts trying to service students and families with things that have nothing to do with education beyond the fact that without the things the student wouldn’t be prepared/normalized for school. However, we do not fund or create the dynamics to make this complete possible or sustainable. Its often noted that its easier to serve students and families where they are. While this may be true, I’ve yet to see us truly reimagine how school and communities should be setup in order to make this happen. And its about more than just going to a community school model. That model needs to start with how the neighborhoods, schools, and communities are constructed. This needs to consider that certain salaries have to have parity with private industry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm critical of MCPS for a lot of reasons, but it is not a knock on MCPS that Latin is not widely offered in all high schools. It's a dead language and only a niche portion of students are going to have the interest that warrants dedicated courses and instruction for it.

Maybe, but if they’re going to offer it at one school, why not offer it more widely? Based on this thread, it’s only offered at WJ, and will not be offered anywhere in the DCC as of next year. I think MCPS should have standard language offerings at all schools, with opportunities (virtual instruction?) to take other languages open to all, not just a few.

It's a dead language. It should be only offered where there is enough interest.

It’s a language that is one of the roots of many modern languages and is part of the vocabulary of many sciences. Study of Latin also involves exposure to the historic background of the language. It can be very useful and worthwhile for speakers of English to study Latin.

That's nice, but this is a very clear supply and demand issue. If you don't have a lot of students demanding the course, why SHOULD MCPS expend resources looking for teachers to staff a course with low enrollment???

But how do you determine whether there would be demand for a class if it’s not offered? I doubt anyone demanded it be at WJ, yet it’s there and not at other schools. I would think it would at least make sense to offer it at the schools that offer IB.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm critical of MCPS for a lot of reasons, but it is not a knock on MCPS that Latin is not widely offered in all high schools. It's a dead language and only a niche portion of students are going to have the interest that warrants dedicated courses and instruction for it.

Maybe, but if they’re going to offer it at one school, why not offer it more widely? Based on this thread, it’s only offered at WJ, and will not be offered anywhere in the DCC as of next year. I think MCPS should have standard language offerings at all schools, with opportunities (virtual instruction?) to take other languages open to all, not just a few.

It's a dead language. It should be only offered where there is enough interest.

It’s a language that is one of the roots of many modern languages and is part of the vocabulary of many sciences. Study of Latin also involves exposure to the historic background of the language. It can be very useful and worthwhile for speakers of English to study Latin.

That's nice, but this is a very clear supply and demand issue. If you don't have a lot of students demanding the course, why SHOULD MCPS expend resources looking for teachers to staff a course with low enrollment???

But how do you determine whether there would be demand for a class if it’s not offered? I doubt anyone demanded it be at WJ, yet it’s there and not at other schools. I would think it would at least make sense to offer it at the schools that offer IB.

There are only a small number of students taking Latin in these MCPS schools offering the class. Spanish, French, Chinese classes are much bigger.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm critical of MCPS for a lot of reasons, but it is not a knock on MCPS that Latin is not widely offered in all high schools. It's a dead language and only a niche portion of students are going to have the interest that warrants dedicated courses and instruction for it.

Maybe, but if they’re going to offer it at one school, why not offer it more widely? Based on this thread, it’s only offered at WJ, and will not be offered anywhere in the DCC as of next year. I think MCPS should have standard language offerings at all schools, with opportunities (virtual instruction?) to take other languages open to all, not just a few.

It's a dead language. It should be only offered where there is enough interest.

It’s a language that is one of the roots of many modern languages and is part of the vocabulary of many sciences. Study of Latin also involves exposure to the historic background of the language. It can be very useful and worthwhile for speakers of English to study Latin.

That's nice, but this is a very clear supply and demand issue. If you don't have a lot of students demanding the course, why SHOULD MCPS expend resources looking for teachers to staff a course with low enrollment???

But how do you determine whether there would be demand for a class if it’s not offered? I doubt anyone demanded it be at WJ, yet it’s there and not at other schools. I would think it would at least make sense to offer it at the schools that offer IB.

If enough students get together to show real demand and committment, a school will try to find a teacher.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son took 4 years of Latin at Walter Johnson, including AP Latin. We're European and speak our native language at home, so he took the AP exam for that as well (the exam was at his high school, but he did not take the classes in MCPS).

When the Virtual Academy opened during the pandemic, they only offered Spanish and French. I believe Walt Whitman has the largest offering of languages, since it has the State Department-desired Russian, Arabic, Mandarin, in addition to Japanese, Italian and the usual Spanish and French. But it doesn't have Latin!

I'm now resigned to the fact that MCPS high schools differ significantly in their course offerings, since I have teens and we've been here since they started in elementary. But at first, I was shocked and displeased. It's not exactly equitable to offer different things for different populations.

The Italian teacher at Whitman also teaches Latin if there's enough sign ups. There is officially Arabic at Whitman but when my DD tried signing up she was told "not this year". So take that extensive list of languages with a pinch of salt.

[Anonymous]

So can you take a language class offered at another HS if your home school doesnt teach it? We are also zoned for Einstein. My kid wants to take latin or italian. Can they take at Kennedy?

[Anonymous]

I think the issue is getting the kid from one school to the other, while not missing other classes. A lot of the schools start and stop at the same time.