will a lack of Latin prejudice ds's chances?

[fircone]

ds is very academic.

he will be attending the local comprehensive next year. The school has an excellent reputation, but does not teach Latin. Assuming (rather early!) that ds might wish to study English at a (top) university, would his lack of Latin prejudice his chances of success?

I regret not studying Latin: we were encouraged at school to take 'living' languages, and I can't say I have ever felt a German A Level has been of any use in my life whatsoever.

Should I look to try to teach him at home, or find a tutor? And do Russell Group universities realise that state school pupils may not have had the opportunity to study classics?

I doubt it. I did English at Oxford back in the day, and had never done Latin (you couldn't at my school either) and it was no problem at all.

Latin offered at all three of our local state grammars. Along with Greek, both to IB level, at one of them.
I think your ds will be fine without it fircone, although I think it's a terrible shame that it is not more widely offered to all children at secondary level
(Disclaimer - I teach Minimus to Yrs 5 and 6 after school at the dc's primary)
I didn't know you were a Latin tutor at university cory

Hear hear MrsGhoul. Charles Clark made my blood run cold when he went off on one about the redundant elitism of wanting to study classics or other "useless" subjects at a high level.
Whatever happened to the love of learning and the pleasure of making connections (my little gang love looking at Latin words and seeing how English has derived from them)?

In fairness though, Marina, if you want to know about where English is derived from, you'd be better off teaching Old English! . Didn't Charles Clark single out medieval history in that particular rambling?

Old English is fab! Love the concept of a "word hoard" which the oral poets would have so that they could tell a story. And great for anyone interested in etymology. Plenty of OE words still in use in the North East and elsewhere.

Fair point Habbibu
I loathe Charles Clark so much it almost hurts. Stubbly philistine.

DH teaches Latin to postgrads on his medieval history course.

Students from around the world - very few of them have Latin when they start. Which is why he teaches it of course.

In other words, they wouldn't turn anyone down.

Libra, I wonder if it is no longer a compulsory component on the Lettres Modernes Licence in France then.
I had to study Tite Live (that's Livy to the rest of you) and Tarquin le Superbe & Co for a whole year in France. It was the only module I actually passed

Message withdrawn

LOL at thread title. I clicked into this thread wondering what subject would need Latin, other than Classics of course.

Well my degree subject was English. No requirement for Latin at all. At ANY university in the country. The better courses still have a component of AngloSaxon but no advance knowledge required.

isn't your DS a bit on the young side for you to be thinking of his degree subject? He might want to go all intellectual and do philosophy or something

The one thing you can tell him is that an English degree is fark all use for anything - unless he wants to teach English at whatever level - lots of fun though.

fircone

I do find it bizarre that you are talking 'Russell Group' about a 10 year old

I would have found Latin quite useful for my philosophy course. There was an expectation that we all understood the Latin phrases bandied about (and how to pronounce them). Though really all you actually needed was a crib sheet of the common Latin phrases.

I'm sure I'd have liked Latin too. My school did offer it but both my parents had hated Latin and ensured we did the modern languages again. I liked those too but still feel a slight lack of Latin.

She is thinking Russell Group and not wanting to close any doors unnecessarily, NAO
Russell Group destinations and A Level subjects offered are a good indicator as to whether a generally excellent-performing all-ability school also supports the very academic child well. So they are relevant, in some cases, at secondary transfer age.

The only thing I don't find completely about Boris Johnson is his support for the classics to be more widely available to children of all abilities
Latin as a fun and interesting subject is not just for bright little boffins, the Minimus course proves that - it works well in primary schools in very diverse settings.

Think that'll be English Lit you're talking about, Quattro... us EngLang grads have a huge range of career paths. Well, a few more than Lit...

I don't have clue Fircone, as I don't know the british system tht well, but - like many italians -I did study Latin at high school and University, and it is a fascinating subject, mostly because it gives the possibility to study fantastic literature.

really? Marina

DP and i both went to Russel group and neither of us thought like that

3 of my dc's are currently in secondary education and we have not considered this sort of thing...

education should be fun and broad at this age - NOT governed by later choices

ds1 is currently thinking along the lines of what his preferred university want him to do and he is 6th form age and only thinking like this now as the competition for his chosen university is so high

However you can also study fantastic literature with modern languages. Spanish study opened up a hitherto unknown world of Latin American literature, politics and culture for me. I had had no idea, before I learnt Spanish as a adult, just how much there was in that language.

And French opened up a whole new literature too.

Is English Language a degree subject then? Gosh. Times are changing.

well, not from UK, so Old English/Scottish etc was not an option at school. I thought Latin was useful as we learned about "language", how a language is built up. We also learned more about "grammar" in Latin.
Anyway, did enjoy it.
Not found any state school in my fairly big city so that's why considereing private sec education (well, one of the reasons)

They taught Latin at my comp school. Everyone considered it a dossy subject, very easy to get a good grade.

I would also be wary of my dc limiting their options to apply to top unis, but for me that would be a matter of making sure they made the right GCSE and A level choices (lots of modern languages, science, Proper Old Fashioned Subjects), most state schools do offer a range, but children too often limit their choices at this stage I think.

I have just been to check, our local 6th form college offers Latin, I'm happy to see. Along with 631 other courses. Massage and Tourism and so on.

Eng Lang has alsways been a degree sunject, no? It was at all Scottish unis 20+ years ago.

Eng Lit and Eng lang

LOL at A level Massage.

Is there an A level in Masturbation too?