Those of you in 4th and 5th grade are learning Greek and Latin roots. The entire upper school takes a course in Latin each year, at least through 9th grade. Perhaps you have wondered why we do this? After all, Latin is a dead language—virtually no one speaks or writes it anymore, so what’s the point?
While getting the chance to spend time with Mr. Vandermolen should be reason enough, it turns out there are many, good reasons to study Latin. This week we’ll consider a few of them. But let’s start by acknowledging something: Latin is just plain hard. Genders, cases, declensions, conjugations, tenses, persons, moods, voices—it’s a lot to master. It requires sustained effort, organizational discipline, analytical skill, repetition.
It turns out, though, that the difficulty is actually one of the very best reasons to study Latin. It is a training of the mind. Like the weight room for athletes, the hard work of Latin lays the foundation for higher levels of academic performance in every subject, by training the mind muscle by muscle.
The whole purpose of lifting weights is to have to use proper technique to move something heavy, in order to make oneself stronger for whatever sport you will play. If the weights are too light, too easy to lift, then nothing happens—the muscles never grow. The key to getting anything out of it is the fact that it is hard.
It shouldn’t surprise you, then, that Mr. Vandermolen was also a top-class weightlifter in his younger years. And I can assure you, he didn’t get there by spending time in his recliner. If you find Latin to be a challenge, to be painfully difficult—you’re not alone. And you’re also not wasting your time. Whether you know it or not, your mental muscles are getting stronger. And in the end, it will be well worth it.
As they say in Latin: “Dulcius Ex Asperis”—sweeter after difficulty.
Have a wonderful day.
