Latin and Logic

Two features of the modern classical curriculum that often stand out to parents and students are Latin and Logic. Latin is a mainstay for all students at Rose City, but it becomes a more intense study once students reach fifth grade. Our middle school (Grades 5-8) is called Logic School because of the shift in emphasis from simply knowing data to asking questions of it. Let's consider why these two are considered requisite parts of a well-rounded education.

Few schools teach Latin as a central element, but we do for two broad reasons: structure and content. The structure of Latin is formative of many other languages, assists in students learning their own language well, and requires that students learn focus and precision. As the root of the romance languages, Latin gives a foundation to several other widely spoken modern languages. Learning Latin prepares students for learning them, including English, where up to 60% of it has roots in Latin. Exposing students to a second language also adds to their understanding of English's structure and rules. Lastly, and most practically, Latin trains focus and precision. Rightly translating a word often requires understanding the case, conjugation, declension, gender, person, number, tense, and mood. Simmons notes that the two word Latin sentence, "Vellem mortuous," requires 14 data points to translate properly. Latin teaches and trains students to mind their words.

Latin is also the primary language of the West for over 1500 years. Much of our heritage is written in Latin. Teaching students the language of their forefathers opens the world to them in a way that English translations can't. One seminary professor remarked that "reading the Bible in English is to see it in black and white, but Greek and Hebrew make it technicolor." Learning Latin gives students opportunities to enjoy history and literature that are otherwise closed off to them.

Older Logic School students do take Beginner and Intermediate Logic as seventh and eighth graders, but the fifth and sixth graders learn to ask questions and identify types of arguments. Part of the practice is to take two authorities and examine their arguments for truth: where do they agree, disagree, and what can be gained through synthesis? This is dialectical reading and reflects a long history of confronting disputed questions. Once students have the reflex to ask questions, the formal studies in logic sharpen those abilities and give more precise categories.

Logic School is geared toward making clear thinkers. They absorb information and begin to categorize it as younger students, but they fight through it and form their own ideas and understanding by studying studying in Logic School.