Latin language instruction
Latin (language)
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Instruction in Latin
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Italy
In Italy, Latin is compulsory in secondary schools such as the
and Liceo Scientifico,
which are usually attended by people who aim to the highest level of education.
In liceo classico, which is the school that was historically attended by the Ruling class, Ancient Greek is a compulsory subject too.
Italian high schools other than liceo classico and liceo scientifico normally do not include the subjects Latin and Ancient Greek.
About one third of Italian high school graduates (19-year-olds) have taken Latin for five years. Latin is also taught at the Accademia Vivarium Novum.
Around 40 percent of Italian high school students study Latin at high school for five years.[3] Latin courses comprises a quite high number of weekly periods, and this contributes to make Italian schooling system somewhat different from other countries', where only a negligible number of students decides to take Latin courses at high school. In Italy, Latin and Ancient Greek are considered important because they are believed to help the students learn an effective study method. In Italy, it is also believed to "open the students' minds" (as people say) i.e., to make them more skilled and more intelligent, even though there is no conclusive statistical evidence for this. Due to words overlaps between Latin and Italian, and sometimes even in English, it is believed that students of Latin have a wider vocabulary in the fields of science, literature, law, philosophy,and also in foreign language(Spanish, French, Portuguese, English, Romanian). Some content that, Latin and Ancient Greek courses may reduce the remaining weekly periods devoted to any other course one can deem more important [4][5]
Latin and Ancient Greek courses at high school comprise both grammar and literature. Grammar is normally analysis of the text given, and this, among other things, is supposed to improve the students' language skills. Inside liceo classico and liceo scientifico, the almost daily translation of short texts from Latin and Ancient Greek usually takes the most part of the daily time devoted by each student to homework. studied in the first two years of high school. Literature is studied in the remaining three years. Students are also assigned daily homework consisting of translating short texts from Latin and Ancient Greek (in Italian, they are called versione di latino and versione di greco respectively). Students are taught to carry out a translation assignment following a strict semantic analysis.
The translation of short texts from Latin and Ancient Greek has been compared by Italian physicist Guido Tonelli to "scientific research" and it is said to be a useful mental exercise.[6]
Italian schooling system has received both praises and criticism. It has also been suggested that it should be revised to meet the needs of the contemporary era, mainly because it is very different from other successful schooling systems, such as those of Finland and the United States. Despite the efforts of Italian politicians to reform it, very little changed when it comes to Latin and Ancient Greek. [7]
Inside Italian schools, the pronunciation adopted by teachers is normally that of New Latin.
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United States
In the United States, Latin is occasionally taught in high schools and middle schools, usually as an elective or option.
There is, however, a growing classical education movement consisting of private schools and home schools that are teaching Latin at the elementary or grammar school level. Latin is often taught in Catholic secondary schools, and in some of them it is a required course.
More than 149,000 Latin students took the 2007 National Latin Exam.
In 2006, 3,333 students took the AP Latin Literature exam.
There is also a National Latin Exam administered to students in the U.S. and other countries.
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