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]

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