How Latin Develops the Mind

A Latin student raises his hand to ask a questionMany who are attracted to the idea of a classical education don’t know exactly why, nor do they understand the necessity for Latin, or at least so much of it. A little bit of Latin is a good thing, but every year? Spinach is a good thing, but every day?

I think decades of educational fads and experiments have made parents wary, and when they hear about classical education—an education that is time-tested, an education that has form and structure, discipline, and beauty—they think, “Yes, that’s what I want.”

But what is classical education? To be accurate—and we must be—we will use the historical meaning, which can certainly be updated but cannot be radically changed. In classical education, the primary focus of language study is a classical language, and the primary focus of history is the classical civilizations of Greece and Rome. There are two—and only two—classical languages: Latin and Greek.

Why study old dead languages and civilizations?

First of all, Latin is not dead; it is still read by millions of people. Most of the classics in Latin are still in print, and there are even many modern books such as How the Grinch Stole Christmas and Winnie-the-Pooh that have been translated into Latin. There are many dead and dying languages in this world, but Latin and Greek are not among them. There have been no more influential languages in history than Latin and Greek. It is true that they are no longer used for everyday conversation, but it is completely false to characterize Latin and Greek as dead languages. They are not dead—they are truly immortal.

Yes, Latin helps with SAT scores. It does make learning a modern vocabulary easier. True, Latin is abundant in the technical vocabularies of the soft and hard sciences and law. A student of Latin should also gain a firmer grasp on English vocabulary by recognizing that almost all the big words come from Latin. But while these benefits are impressive, they are minor compared to the true value of Latin. There are more important objectives that Latin achieves better than any other subject: The first is mental development, and the second is an understanding of English grammar.

Mathematics and Language

Latin’s development of the intellectual powers of the mind has no rival in the humanities. How does Latin do it? In the same way as math. Math is systematic, organized, orderly, logical, and cumulative. In a cumulative study, each skill builds upon the previous one; nothing can be forgotten, and everything must be remembered. All knowledge and skills are interrelated. The student continues to build a tower of learning, block by block, until he has reached a very high level of skill and knowledge.

Math forms the mind of the student in accuracy, logical thinking, and problem solving. Math truly educates and transforms the mind of the student through its order, logic, accuracy, and organization. The true purpose of education and all of the subjects we study in school is to develop, shape, and transform the mind and character of the student. The nature of the subject transfers its character to the student’s mind.

Math is similar to Latin, and neither is truly a “subject.” They are something much more basic and fundamental than a subject. Astronomy is a subject. The Civil War is a subject. Science, history, literature, government, and sociology are subjects. Subjects are by nature topical. Yes, there are basics to any subject, and, ideally, they are taught in as cumulative a way as possible. If a student doesn’t do well in world history one year, however, he can pick up and do fine the next year in American history. If he zones out during the cell structure, he can wake up and knock off an “A” in the classification system of plants. Math is hard because it builds so relentlessly year after year. Any skill not mastered one year will make work difficult the next year. It is unforgiving. It has to be overlearned.

But language skills are still the measure of the educated person—one who can speak and write with clarity and has power over his native language, English. And what do we have on the language side of the curriculum that is comparable to and balances the rigorous, challenging, cumulative, formative study of math? Without Latin, the answer is “nothing.” Latin provides the missing component in modern education. Almost everything I said about math can be said about Latin—but not English, science, history, or French.

Why not English grammar?

English is not a classical language; it does not have the structure or the form, the logic or the rules. The Romans were disciplined, and their language marched in columns, row after row, like soldiers. English is lax and loose, bending and changing wherever it fits our fancy. We are an independent, liberty-loving people, and our language shows it. Languages reflect the culture of the people who speak them, and likewise languages influence the character of a nation’s people.

Furthermore, students have a very difficult time studying their own language. Students have grown up with their own language, and they take it for granted. They are amazingly reluctant to analyze it because they can already put it to practical use instinctively. Beyond that, English grammar is abstract, whereas Latin is concrete. In Latin, you know the direct object because it is in the accusative case. In English, you have to figure it out based on the context. By learning a language that is very different from English, the student, for the first time, really starts to see how his own language works. His own language comes alive.

People often counter this with, “But what about modern languages?” Like English, modern languages are not classical: They lack the structure, form, and logical order of the classical languages. Latin and Greek are so different from modern languages that they are intriguing to students. They open up a whole new world and give students the ability to think about language, allowing them to contrast and compare, to see the function of each part of speech and its role—a very difficult task since students use language naturally. It’s like putting on 3-D glasses that allow students to see all the dimensions of their own language.

A graphic displaying the ideal sequence for teaching Latin with our curriculum.

Latin and math also give students the invaluable experience of studying one systematic subject to a mastery level over a long period of time. This is key to mental and character development, and is the most valuable academic experience a child can have in school. There are few opportunities to use higher-order thinking skills when you are merely a novice. It is only when the student has studied a subject enough to have some depth that his mind can be stretched and challenged with higher-order thinking skills. When taught to a mastery level, Latin and math require perseverance, hard work, stamina, will, grit. They take a plan, a never-give-up attitude, wits, flexibility, and preparation. Latin, however, develops and enlarges the mind to a far greater degree than math and brings the necessary balance to the curriculum. The study of Latin develops the intellectual powers of the mind and develops English language skills far more effectively than a study of English grammar.

Latin takes the student to the top of Mt. Parnassus to survey the grassy plains below, where he frolicked as a child, and calls him to remember how little he knew years ago when he thought he knew everything. It says, “Now that you have done it once, you can overcome any future challenge you may meet.”

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