Latin Grammar and Chemistry

I spoke today with a Latin II student at the public high school where I teach. She informed me that she could not take Latin next year because she was enrolling in a veterinary science class that would occupy three class periods. I asked her what she would take if she were not taking the veterinary class, and she replied that she would be taking a second math and a second science class in addition to the math and science she will already be taking, along with Latin.

Her choice, then, was between taking a schedule with two math and two science classes along with Latin III, or one with only one math, one science, and the veterinary class.

I was immediately put in mind of the following account, which I shared with her.

In the early 20th century, the great German chemist, Bauer, was asked by one of his colleagues whether his best students came from the Real-Schulen (a modern school where chemistry was taught as a subject) or from the Gymnasien (a traditional liberal arts school where Latin grammar was stressed). His colleague's assumption was that the best science students would come from the Real-Schulen.

"Not at all," [Bauer] replied; "all my best students come from the Gymnasien. The students from the Real-Schulen do best at first; but after three months work here, they are, as a rule, left behind by those coming from the Gymnasien." The colleague wondered at this because the Real-Schulen students had been especially instructed in chemistry. "Yes," he replied; "but the students from the Gymnasien have the best trained minds. Give me a student who has been taught his Latin grammar, and I will answer for his chemistry." (Kelsey, Latin and Greek in American Education, New York, NY: Macmillan, 1911, p. 24)

I asked my student who had advised her on this choice of curriculum. Her guidance advisor at school and, to my surprise, someone at the university she wishes to attend...North Carolina.

She and her mother thought that the veterinary class would give her a leg up when it came to such studies in college. I tried to help her see that the better preparation would be more classes in math, more in science, and more in Latin, precisely for the reasons that Bauer cited, but when I ran up against the university itself saying the opposite, I ceased trying to persuade her.

This is but one more example of an educational system and a social culture within our country that fails to recognize what true education is.