To Whom It May Concern,
My name is Taryn Boonpongmanee, and I am a rising high school senior. I was raised in Richland, Washington, and attended schools in the Richland School District until 8th grade, from the QUEST program at Lewis and Clark Elementary School to graduating as the first class to attend 6th, 7th, and 8th grade at the newly built Leona Libby Middle School in 2020.
I’m writing to advocate for the expansion of the Latin language into public schools across the Pacific Northwest because I believe that teaching Latin aids in building skills that are critical to future learning opportunities and will strengthen our educational systems.
The summer before I started high school, I found myself with lots of free time due to COVID restrictions. I decided to spend my time learning Latin, a language I had never thought of learning. That summer, I learned Latin 1 by myself using free online resources. When I had the chance to attend an in-person boarding school in the fall of 2020, I placed into Latin 2, and this fall I will be in Latin 7, the final course in the curriculum.
I’m extremely grateful to have found this passion, and it has helped me immensely in my other subjects. I became more confident in my grammar, reading, and writing abilities because I had learned the precise grammar and logic of Latin. The critical thinking and problem solving skills and systematic learning methods gained from learning Latin extend to be used across disciplines, fine tuning the mind to be clearer and sharper. I want to bring my passion for Latin back to public school systems in the Pacific Northwest because I have seen how it has helped me and believe that it will be beneficial for school curriculums.
There are many reasons to learn Latin, especially at a young age, including the following:
1) Learning Latin now will prepare students for future careers in law, science, and medicine. Research shows that students who learn Latin receive the highest scores on the Graduate Record Examinations in verbal reasoning, quantitative reasoning, and analytical writing. Latin learners receive the highest scores on the Law School Admission Test and have higher success rates for getting into medical school (from “12 Reasons to be a Classics major in the 21st Century).
2) The English language is built upon the foundations of Latin. Half of the English language is built on phonics and the other half is built on Latin roots and spellings. We teach phonics but don’t always continue learning the basics of Latin. We learn the word “death” in English but then become exposed to remorse, mortuous, mortality, moribund, and immortelle, words that come from mors, mortis, the Latin word for death. Past primary school, our readings begin to transform into words with Latin spellings and pronunciations (from “Top 10 Reasons for Studying Latin”).
3) Latin plays a key role in a STEM education as well. In science classes, we learn about rocks: sedimentary, from sedeo ‘to sit’, metamorphic, from meta ‘change’ + morphe ‘form’, and igneous, from ignis ‘fire’ Modern science terminology echoes the theme of Latin roots above..
4) In the rising age of digital humanities and competitive job fields, Latin provides the intersection to broaden one’s skills. Forbes writer Eric Jackson looked into how workers at Apple were hired and found that they were hired based on previous skill sets and jobs. Every member Jackson looked at had experience with the connection between technology and humanities — digital humanities. Physicians have reported that learning philosophy helps with emotionally understanding and connecting to patients, becoming experts in the field of medicine as a whole (from “12 Reasons to be a Classics major in the 21st Century).
Implementing Latin within curriculums can come in many forms. I recognize that not all areas have the resources and energy to create a Latin curriculum, but there are ways to incorporate Latin into preexisting systems. English and history classes are prime examples. In history class, as we learn about the foundations of our government and educational systems, we can acknowledge how our modern systems stem from ancient Rome. When we learn about English vocabulary and grammar, Latin can be built into regular class time by simultaneously learning about Latin roots and the grammar systems that create the English words and sentences we are teaching. Learning these roots strengthens an English language education, and as the base of Romance languages, Latin also extends to assist with learning Spanish, Italian, and French.
The Paideia Institute works with public schools who are looking to add Latin in their curriculums. They have created the Teaching Literacy with Latin curriculum that provides full lesson plans, activities, and quizzes. The program can be found here: https://www.paideiainstitute.org/aequora. With their help, I started an Aequora program at the Bement School in Deerfield, MA.
Thank you for taking the time to read my letter, and I hope you will consider providing opportunities to explore the Latin language in order to broaden our students’ exposure to unique learning opportunities.
Best,
Taryn Boonpongmanee
www.launchingloveforlatin.com
Sources:
“12 Reasons to be a Classics major in 21st Century” by Liam Kinney, Stanford Classics Student, “Top 10 Reasons for Studying Latin” by Cheryl Lowe, founder of Memoria Press, Latin program designer,“Benefits of Latin” by the University of Kentucky