Latin Program Reinstatement

Latin is a language that has withstood the test of time. It is direct influence and root in the major languages spoken around the world today. To this day, Latin is still regarded as the language of scholars, the elite of the academic world. Though a dead language, few in the high circles of academia will deny the importance that the study of Latin can have on a students academic career. Latin is not a program that should be cut from the languages offered at Sparta High School.

As a high school that offers the option to take the langauge of Latin, Sparta High School presents students with a challenge and an advantage that schools that have cut their program or never had a program do not. It is true that Latin is a difficult language to learn and even more difficult to continue, but those who rise to the challenge truly benefit. Many prestigous colleges and universities acknowledge the difficulty of Latin and will admire an applicant who opted to take such a difficult language over those with a reputation for being easier. The advantage doesnt just stop at the college application process, because many world languages take their root in Latin, students of the language have the ability to comprehend the basics of the romance languages due to the extensive similarities in conjugations, declensions, and general vocabulary. Latin also enables students to be able to use inference skills with learning and understanding various degrees of difficult vocabulary in English itself. An advantage such as that enables students of Latin to have a higher chance of doing well on vocabulary sections of the SAT. Many of the students who have landed places on the Perfect Score Plaque in Sparta High School itself have been alumni of the Latin program.

Cutting the Latin program at Sparta High School would create more than just a lack of advantage on the SAT and the college application process. For those students who are currently taking Latin, it will disable them from meeting three consecutive years of language that many of the top colleges and universities require. There are many colleges and universities that even require four years. By cutting the Latin program, current freshmen and juniors enrolled in Latin will only be able to reach three years and current sophmores enrolled in Latin will only be able to reach two. In most cases, colleges and universities will choose the student who took four consecutive years of language over one who merely took three or two consecutive years for two different languages.

It is understandable that current economic times are tough and that keeping a program for such an antiquitated language may not seem to be the best decision. However, the Latin program at Sparta High School requires very little in the means of funds in order to thrive. The books and films used throughout the course to give additional information throughout the year are paid for out of pocket by Dr. Rabinowitz. Textbooks are not a cost due to the fact that students receive a copy of the chapters that will be learned throughout the year. On top of that, out of the four years of Latin offered, none of them offer a field trip.

The course itself taught by Dr. Rabinowitz is of upmost quality. Students are immersed in every aspect of the ancient world from military strategies to fashion and culture. Such information is presented clearly and thouroughly in order for students to be able to take their knowledge and apply it to various assignments and projects throughout the year. Often enough, much of that knowledge is applicable in many other classes. Latin students also learn how to analyze language and identify the etomolgy of many commonly used words just by looking at them. Within their first year, they gain the ability to read full chapters of stories in Latin on the spot.

Alumni of the Latin program often recall the benefits of taking Latin. They often did better on the SAT than their peers. It helped many get into better colleges. It was a course where they learned many life lessons that stick with them to this day. Many more will tell of how Latin was their favorite class thoughout high school. That it is a dear safe haven where learning came easy and was not rushed to the point where it was unmanageable.

Latin as a program should not be cut. It would create grave disadvantages to current and future students. It would also be a disadvantage to the school. Reconsidering the decision to cut Sparta High School's Latin program would be highly beneficial both to the students and the school as a whole.