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Apr. 27th, 2010 05:27 pm![[personal profile]](http://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
darklyndseaI have Latin and school on the brain, so here, have some of my ideas for my hypothetical geek school:
Latin is awesome and should be learned. Therefore, my hypothetical school would, upon enrollment, use the local language (in America this would presumably be English, but if we hypothetically go international...) to teach the basics of Latin, and then have the rest of the instruction (except in classes for the local language and any foreign languages offered) in Latin. That's the way school was taught until 200 years ago, so it could be done that way again.
Infrastructure (teachers, textbooks, the library) might be a bit difficult to get in place. I'm not sure about what the laws are regarding teacher certification in private schools. Obviously you want your teachers to have a teacher's certificate, but if I'm reading the information right (and it's entirely possible I might not be), if the same thing was done in public schools the teachers would require a certificate in both Latin and whatever they're teaching. Although some teachers get multiple certificates, AFAIK there aren't a lot who get both Latin and math, for instance. I'm running completely without actual statistics or even facts, so I might be completely wrong on that front, but I don't think I am. And to add to that difficulty, the school would need not only teachers who majored in Latin, or can read and teach it, but ones who are fluent in it, which is maybe a few thousand people worldwide.
There are no textbooks which are still published in Latin, besides Latin textbooks. AFAIK there are no modern maps in Latin (OK, I'm probably wrong on this one). Fiction books are scarce. Harry Potter and Winnie the Pooh are currently relatively easy to obtain, but most of the other Latin fiction books are very difficult to find, much less find for cheap enough for a school library.
But I shall assume all of those obstacles are conquered. School administration, memos, talk amongst teachers, etc., should all be in Latin to encourage habitual use of it. This is all probably best accomplished by recruiting teachers who believe in the goals of the school and in spoken Latin- which should be most of the people who know how to speak Latin, since you don't usually become fluent in Latin unless you believe in spoken Latin fluency. Students should be highly encouraged to speak Latin, and work which is not for an English or foreign language class should all be in Latin.
Latin is awesome and should be learned. Therefore, my hypothetical school would, upon enrollment, use the local language (in America this would presumably be English, but if we hypothetically go international...) to teach the basics of Latin, and then have the rest of the instruction (except in classes for the local language and any foreign languages offered) in Latin. That's the way school was taught until 200 years ago, so it could be done that way again.
Infrastructure (teachers, textbooks, the library) might be a bit difficult to get in place. I'm not sure about what the laws are regarding teacher certification in private schools. Obviously you want your teachers to have a teacher's certificate, but if I'm reading the information right (and it's entirely possible I might not be), if the same thing was done in public schools the teachers would require a certificate in both Latin and whatever they're teaching. Although some teachers get multiple certificates, AFAIK there aren't a lot who get both Latin and math, for instance. I'm running completely without actual statistics or even facts, so I might be completely wrong on that front, but I don't think I am. And to add to that difficulty, the school would need not only teachers who majored in Latin, or can read and teach it, but ones who are fluent in it, which is maybe a few thousand people worldwide.
There are no textbooks which are still published in Latin, besides Latin textbooks. AFAIK there are no modern maps in Latin (OK, I'm probably wrong on this one). Fiction books are scarce. Harry Potter and Winnie the Pooh are currently relatively easy to obtain, but most of the other Latin fiction books are very difficult to find, much less find for cheap enough for a school library.
But I shall assume all of those obstacles are conquered. School administration, memos, talk amongst teachers, etc., should all be in Latin to encourage habitual use of it. This is all probably best accomplished by recruiting teachers who believe in the goals of the school and in spoken Latin- which should be most of the people who know how to speak Latin, since you don't usually become fluent in Latin unless you believe in spoken Latin fluency. Students should be highly encouraged to speak Latin, and work which is not for an English or foreign language class should all be in Latin.