May 10, 2005

Saving Classics saves trees, the animals, and famine victims.

EDIT: PETITION: From the Latin root word "to beg, to ask for".

What did the protester with a runny nose do? Picket.

But I digress. If you took Latin Level 3 you would learn the derivative of the expression "but I digress" while reading the fourth book of the Aenead. If this is the case, those poor intermediates currently being denied of Level 3 Latin will never learn the essence of "digressing". That is but one side-effect that will outcome if Latin Level 3 would stop.

Classics will continue to support the arts and humanities. It represents the roots of today's Western civilization. If history is important, than why shouldn't Classics receive the same priority? If the principal and vice principal would pull me into a security room to plead me to join AP Calculus and AP Physics along with the current 15 or so already, why can't they at least give Level 3 Latin a split class opportunity? You don't have to pay $100 for the exam in Level 3 Latin. You can learn the roots of the terms you'll use in mathematics, science, and law. It would be surprising for a Law student to throw latin terms at a latin student and for him/her to answer accurately without having studied or looked at law before.

If you could ask anyone at all who has attended Classics of their opinion on it, they will give you a positive response. Any course that can do this must mean something. Any course that consists of such a close family of students and offer so many events such as movie nights, Certamen, Saturnalia, Myth Contests, Conference, and downtown lectures...I can't see why the school would not want a program such as this to run. Is the fact that university students and university graduates who had taken Classics return to visit and volunteer for Classics to be ignored?

It's horrendous that society would want to give up this course for the sake of money. It goes against what Latin teaches you: the roots of humanity and society. Being in Latin 3 right now, I don't want the memories and experiences gained this year to be abstained from others who have just as much rights as I did to be priviledge with this course. Arts courses are great, as courses like music have brought me to many concerts before, and the histories to many museums. But no other course has let me experience anything like Conference, and downtown lectures which are FUN. The most exhilarating Math/Science excursion I've heard of is the Queens trip, but that requires you to be GOOD to be able to go, putting pressure on students to aim for numbers, not the sustenance of the courses.

But to wrap up this huge thing: SAVE CLASSICS.

1 comment:

  1. Anonymous9:31 a.m.

    Hear, hear! Well said. Good point with the AP courses.

    ReplyDelete