GSCE OPTIONS HISTORY OR LATIN

My daughter has just finished a music degree and did exactly the same GCSEs that yours is considering (both Latin and history, but only did short course RS). Latin (which she did to AS) and history go well with music, but so do lots of subjects, so I would say it probably doesn't much matter.

If you have to drop one of the two I'd probably drop Latin on the grounds that he will continue to be exposed to it through his singing.

DD did History and hated it it was so focused on 20th Century, both world wars, it was dull, whereas she has always been more interested in ancient history.

History is a really good topic for preparing for university, although GCSE is relatively basic in terms of practice but would get you to the next levels. Generally speaking history isn't about dates, it's about analysing sources, creating arguments, putting your opinion forwards. There's a reason lots of politicians have done history! It's a skill, it's less about the topics but the methodology to finding out about them. Therefore, it's a good A level to have so I would encourage the GCSE. I've done Latin as an adult and educated to degree level in history and can say in my opinion history is more useful and enjoyable!

Surely if a DC loves a subject they would be choosing it if at all possible as a GCSE option. That is not the case with the OP's DS as he has no strong preference.

DS, who is a mathematician and scientist through and through, loves Latin. Does it have to be “relevant” these days for it to have value, or is sheer love of a subject enough?

A little bit of Latin goes a long way; you can do a year, learn a lot and it helps with other languages and also with English.

My son had the choice, took History, and has regretted it ever since.

He loved Latin and wished he had taken it to GCSE. He did two years of it (years 8 & 9) and not only enjoyed it, he found it very useful for English and other MFL and sciences, in respect of prefixes & suffixes (i.e. hyper/hypo, male/female, etc) and word origins. Even now, two years later, if he comes across a word he hasn't seen before (i.e. in English texts or a science exam), he'll think in terms of his Latin knowledge and try to work it out, and usually he manages it.

The reasons he didn't take it was that he was being bombarded with comments about how history is relevant and interesting (he found it neither), and he didn't like the sound of having to memorise ancient texts/plays etc for the Latin (his friends who did it have said it was nowhere near as bad as it was made out and most found it relatively easy).

wonderwine apologies!

History, so much more relevant than Latin. A little bit of Latin goes a long way; you can do a year, learn a lot and it helps with other languages and also with English. Not much use after that though.

Just following on from wondereine’s post I should add I did GCSES nearly 30 years ago, so clearly have no idea about current ones. And there is generally more ‘learning’ and less thinking in our current ‘education’ system, so the history I knew may well be gone at that level.

montenuit
classic civ is not Latin! It is known as an easy GCSE.

Yes, I know, but the OP mentioned it as a separate subject option?

Drop French and do history and Latin?

History is the subject I've heard most complaints about from DS's friends (just done GCSEs) and parents. It seems:

• the highest volume of work
• the least predictable questions
• most complex mark scheme (if the question says this... you have to remember to answer it precisely this way...)
• the most 'unstable' in terms of final marks I.e. Those predicted A*s getting Bs etc

I'm not trying to scaremonger, but we've just come through the new linear GCSEs this year and the volume of stuff to learn and pressure on DCs has been much worse than with DS1 two years ago.
My advice to all parents would be a) go for quality of grades over quantity of GCSES - 8 good is better than 10 incl some average (unis will look at grade averages, not number of passes)
AND
Include some easy/ easier wins to balance the workload.

Classical Civilisations was by far a much easier GCSE

classic civ is not Latin! It is known as an easy GCSE.

does he have any idea what A levels he will do? I'd work backwards if possible...

it would depend on the current curriculum.

I think you need to get detail from the school as to what modules they'll be doing in History. There is a lot of choice - if I remember rightly, Edexcel had 16 different modules to choose 4 from. Most schools decide themselves and don't give the kids any choices. My son has just done History and hated it because the school had chosen 4 "war" themed modules whereas they could have chosen a broader range, i.e. industrial revolution, American West, History of medicine, crime & punishment, etc. If he'd know it was going to be nothing but war related, he would never have chosen it.

I did Latin and hated it so much I dropped it three months before the exam. It literally depressed me. History on the other hand, I started at A-level (without having done the GCSE), a term late (after dropping Physics), and I loved it. It was all about thinking and reasoning and creating arguments with facts. If he likes ethics, history is full of it (not least in the way we represent and discuss history). If he would rather do that then I would say let him.

Which history board is it? Teachers and parents have been petitioning to reduce the content in the new AQA history syllabus (8145) as they say it is simply too much. My DS also has problems remembering lots of facts (dyslexia related) and ended up having to drop History as he simply couldn't cope with it.
Classical Civilisations was by far a much easier GCSE - about 1/4 the length of the History syllabus, and with a lot of boys who enjoyed the Greek myths and Homeric heroes etc.
If he doesn't want to study History in the future then I would go with Latin or ClassCivs - they may even be more relevant to his music?

It is a shame he can't do both and double science as he dislikes science but from what you say about him I would go for history. If he were a keen linguist or prefers ancient histoy then Latin.
History will require learning facts but otherwise the skills (essays, analysis) will overlap more with English and Music than Latin.
Plus history provides more context for works he may study in the future.

I agree. History was the most work of all the GCSEs for my dd. You said previously that ds is lazy, if so choose Latin.

DD1 is doing her GCSEs now. I'd say history has been the most work. The mark scheme rewards memorisation of lots and lots of facts and it's also time consuming in terms of being an essay subject.