Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In Arlington, that's the language with the best teachers. The Spanish teachers aren't very good.

Any validity to the rumor that the Latin teacher at Swanson is leaving?

My kid is one of her students and says no.

Everyone who attended law school wishes they had studied Latin.

It can't hurt to at least try Latin. I took Latin for just one year as a foundation before learning French and felt it was a huge benefit and probably helped me on the SAT as well. I'm encouraging my DC to do the same...and if he likes it, he can continue in Latin.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In Arlington, that's the language with the best teachers. The Spanish teachers aren't very good.

Any validity to the rumor that the Latin teacher at Swanson is leaving?

NP here, and parent of one of her students -- Anyone? I am hoping not, really hard, because she is amazing.

She did ask for boxes to pack up her room, but I thought that was because she's in the trailer this year and next year all of 7th grade will be in trailers; I figured she was getting moved to the big house.

Anonymous wrote:

OP here.



Thank you for all your help! You have all made an excellent case for taking Latin!

We are bilingual in French. While I myself never studied Latin, I got a perfect score on my GRE when I came to this country, just because the vocabulary corresponded to ordinary French words (ie, Latin roots).


Just one other question: one of my children is definitely a STEM guy. Will colleges care at all about him taking Latin?

No matter what field, Latin is held in higher regard than other foreign languages. I know TJHSST likes to see it and they has a strong Latin program in their own right.

OP here.



Thank you for all your help! You have all made an excellent case for taking Latin!

We are bilingual in French. While I myself never studied Latin, I got a perfect score on my GRE when I came to this country, just because the vocabulary corresponded to ordinary French words (ie, Latin roots).


Just one other question: one of my children is definitely a STEM guy. Will colleges care at all about him taking Latin?

My son took 3 years of Latin in HS. All I can say is SATs, SATs, SATs! He really loved it.

I wish I'd taken Spanish in MS & HS instead of Latin & French. Sure, the Latin helped me in preparation for the SATs, but I've never really used my 6 years of French aside from travelling.

Like someone said earlier, Spanish was considered the 'slacker' language that all the 'dumb' kids took (everyone was required to take a language). Top students all took either Latin or French and most took both.

So, so, so many job postings are advertising bilingual Spanish preferred and some even as a requirement.

I do not know anyone who has taken Latin, so the answers here were very illuminating.

yup, Latin really helps teachyou grammar and root words. Totallyrics helps with word charge for SATs. Plus when you read you can often find things out from context and Latin. I took 2 years. (example of mal- and bene- above)