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The Latin for the Judging
Jul. 31st, 2021 08:23 amBecause my comprehensive school had (until the year before I went there) been a Secondary Modern, it didn't teach Latin, preferring to specialise in woodwork and cross country running. This made me really cross, aged 11.
Now I hear that Gavin Williamson wants to introduce Latin to state schools, basically so that they can be more like private schools. (Although, if he wants them to be more like private schools, giving them the same budget per pupil would be a shorter way.)
He also adds that Latin will help pupils learn modern languages - which it might with some of them, although perhaps not as much as, you know, actually teaching those languages. (Data point - the number of primary schools employing a foreign language assistant halved between 2018 and 2020.)
Both these reasons seem manifestly specious/dishonest. Why else might Williamson want pupils to learn Latin? Could it be that he's keen to see people being able to enjoy Latin poetry and prose for its own sake? That would be an excellent reason, but his recent pronouncements on the uselessness of the arts suggest it's an unlikely motivation.
Which leaves what was always the most plausible option - that Gavin Williamson is driven by venal sucking up to Boris "Greats" Johnson, and a shallow Latin-tag-dropping snobbery. Perhaps he's also compensating for the fact that he too went to a cross-country-running comp? It takes people different ways: some of us prefer to conjugate, others simply decline.
Now I hear that Gavin Williamson wants to introduce Latin to state schools, basically so that they can be more like private schools. (Although, if he wants them to be more like private schools, giving them the same budget per pupil would be a shorter way.)
He also adds that Latin will help pupils learn modern languages - which it might with some of them, although perhaps not as much as, you know, actually teaching those languages. (Data point - the number of primary schools employing a foreign language assistant halved between 2018 and 2020.)
Both these reasons seem manifestly specious/dishonest. Why else might Williamson want pupils to learn Latin? Could it be that he's keen to see people being able to enjoy Latin poetry and prose for its own sake? That would be an excellent reason, but his recent pronouncements on the uselessness of the arts suggest it's an unlikely motivation.
Which leaves what was always the most plausible option - that Gavin Williamson is driven by venal sucking up to Boris "Greats" Johnson, and a shallow Latin-tag-dropping snobbery. Perhaps he's also compensating for the fact that he too went to a cross-country-running comp? It takes people different ways: some of us prefer to conjugate, others simply decline.