Fewer Schools Teaching Latin

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 31941, 19 March 1969, Page 6

Fewer Schools Teaching Latin

Latin, although being leamt by fewer secondary school pupils, is still being taught in 53 of the 84 high schools in the southern region education district—the South Island exclusive of Nelson and Marlborough.

Of the schools in which it is taught, 28 are registered private schools and this is only 10 short of the total number of independent schools in the region. Twentyfive of the 46 State secondary schools, excluding district high schools, teach Latin.

The number of candidates in New Zealand sitting the Latin school certificate examination was 1578 in 1956, 2243 in 1963, and 1829 In 1967. Asked for reasons for the decline of Latin in popularity, a secondary school inspector, Mr D. Rathbone, advanced these: A more utilitarian approach to education today. Increased pressure from other subjects, including modern languages, particularly Asian languages. Latin is no longer a prerequisite for any university course. “With the more utilitarian approach to secondary education today, the student asks what specific use subjects will have in the future,” Mr Rathbone said. Previously this sort of question was not asked, and 20 to 30 years ago educataion was for a small and select group. But with the demand for wider education had come marked development in the school curriculum, and with a subject such as Latin the development had not been as marked as with some other subjects. French and German, for example, had forged ahead more quickly. Asked what advantages

5 there were in secondary school pupils taking Latin toil day, Mr Rathbone said that 11, as the subject was a special d interest of his, he must be careful not to give a biased W personal view that might be j open to misinterpretation. (i There were marked advantImages, however, in studying Si Latin along with Romance fc I languages because factors in 3 common could result in S greater facility and under--3 standing. B “Latin may be a moribund 1 language, but it is certainly J not dead yet,” he said. i Illustrating the pressure H from other subjects, Mr Rath- ■ bone said that social studies, S liberal studies, German and B Russian had all been introj duced relatively recently, j Japanese and Indonesian had f| also been introduced into g some schools experimentally. B An example of expansion H in the teaching of other sub- ■ jects is the establishment of I two classes a week in the ( teaching of Japanese for secJiondary teachers. Between 30 a and 40 attend. I The liaison officer at the 1 University of Canterbury (Mr ■ E. R. Hounsell) Mid that 3 Latin could, of course, be 1 taken as another language in B an arts course. If a master’s g degree in French was being B taken, for example, Latin S could logically also be taken B because of factors in common, ■ but it was not obligatory. 1 Another reason for a deI cline in the number taking ■ Latin at secondary school, he

said, was simply competitive selection of languages now available. The number which students could take had increased. Previously, the choice had been limited to Latin and French, but now German, Russian and Japanese were available to secondary school pupils. Mr Hounsell said that Canterbury did not have a course in Japanese, but Auckland and Massey universities did. There were 80 Christchurch secondary school students at sixth form level taking Japanese, and he thought that this would eventually result in a demand for a university course.

There was more emphasis now on speaking and reading Latin in its teaching in secondary schools, said Professor D. A. Kidd, of the classics department of the University of Canterbury, when asked

about advances in the teaching of the subject. More was being done to study the Roman way of life and make the language more relevant.

To any student going on to the university, Latin taken at secondary school would be useful in the study of literature, history or languages, Professor Kidd said. “In fact, we have started a Latin course as a try-out for those who missed at school,” he added. The aim of this was to help students to develop the facility of reading Latin because of its usefulness in study. Professor Kidd said that teachers did have to contend with an attitude that Latin was a dull and uninteresting subject, but advances in teaching had been made, and in January he had given lectures to a refresher course for teachers of sixth-form Latin.