Sodomy non sapiens

[andrewducker]

A friend of mine has a daughter at school and is wondering whether they should take Latin - whether they would find it actually useful later on for other subjects.  They think that it would be useful for science, and also for wanting to be a doctor or a vet.

Anyone got any opinions on this?

Comments

[marrog.livejournal.com]

With K being a strong scientist, and if we're looking for a language that ties into that, she might well be better off with German?

[andrewducker]

Well, I'd go with whatever they fancied - if they have to take a second language (and I suspect they do) then looking at the options and seeing what seemed most interesting would be my preferred method :->

If there was the choice of doing something unusual (Chinese, Spanish, etc.) I'd be more tempted by that, myself.

[marrog.livejournal.com]

If she's doing all three sciences it's very unlikely she'll have the column space for a second language, because at least one of those sciences will clash with it. Certainly in my school you actually didn't have space for more than two of anything, and I was unable to take both art and music at Standard Grade, but that was because it was so small. In K's case I would guess that if she's taking History, Physics, Chemistry and Biology, she will only be in one language. Let's have a look...

Assuming 10 S Grades (which is two more than I did, but I think they do 10 at H's):

1. English
2. Maths
3. Chemistry
4. Physics
5. Biology
6. History
7. Language 1
8. Some kind of business-y computer-y thing (in my day I think it was Office and Information Studies, Computing, Accounting or Business Science)
9. Some kind of creative thing (Art, Music, C&D, and usually PE and Home Ec are options here too)
10. ...Hm... maybe there would be the opportunity for another Language here, but it would make for a pretty heavy courseload doing nothing but Sensible subjects. I would also personally err on the side of another social science ie Modern Studies rather than another language, but that's my personal view on what's actively useful coming in there. I guess if she does Latin in one place a modern language would also be sensible.

[drplokta]

Depends on the school -- I did Latin and French 'O' Levels, as well as three sciences and two maths. But that was a while ago, as you can tell from them being 'O' Levels and not GCSEs.

[poisonduk.livejournal.com]

Second language is compulsory - She's on her fifth year of French now as she started in Primary 5!

[likeneontubing.livejournal.com]

Ring the admissions at Edinburgh on 0131 6511905 and ask how useful it would be. Ask for Niall, Shona or Claire

[cybik.livejournal.com]

Since when was Spanish unusual?!

[andrewducker]

I don't know anyone that studied it in school. Do you?

[cybik.livejournal.com]

Yes, I do - not a huge number, sure, but then I don't know what a lot of my friends studied at school. It's the third most common language for people to study at GCSE, apparently, only just below German. In fact, they think it won't be long before Spanish is the second most popular language, since the number of people taking it is actually increasing (unlike German).

[andrewducker]

I had no idea - thanks!

[poisonduk.livejournal.com]

In Primary Five K was offered the option of French, German or Spanish - 1/3 of the year do each language, so it is very common.

[cybik.livejournal.com]

And I think you should do a poll about it :P

[robling-t.livejournal.com]

You'll get different answers to that depending which side of the pond you're on, I suspect...