Latin or Classical Civilsation

Bexley · Post by **Bexley** » Tue Jan 19, 2010 11:37 pm

My dd is in Yr 9 and her last option choice is between these two subjects, but she is unsure as to which one to go for.

Which ever one she takes is likely to be her 4th AS choice too.

Does anyone have any advice/opinion on which is the better choice. She does not know which career path she is going to follow (although not interested in medicine or law), but does want to go on to university. Her favourite subjects are english, history and art.

Many Thanks

Bexley xx

ourmaminhavana · Post by **ourmaminhavana** » Tue Jan 19, 2010 11:46 pm

I studied both and found CC far easier than Latin. The two subjects are very different. One is a language, one basically a humanities subject ie the history of the Greeks and Romans.
I think given her other subject preferences she would enjoy Classical Civilisation.
I feel that I gained a great deal from both- sorry, that's not much help. Latin is IMO excellent for understanding word origins.
Good luck!

Bexley · Post by **Bexley** » Tue Jan 19, 2010 11:53 pm

Thanks Ourmanainhavana,

I think she would enjoy CC, but her Latin teacher suggested to her that she should consider taking that instead. So far she has done well in Latin, but CC is, as yet, an unknown quantity ...............I think dd is feeling a bit bamboozled, especially as up to last week her final gcse choice was going to be geography!

Thanks again

Bexleyxx

KB · Post by KB » Wed Jan 20, 2010 9:59 am

If a child is capable of getting a decent grade in Latin then I would say go for that every time. There are not many schools that still offer it & it is considered one of the few remaining 'testing' GCSEs so it does make them stand out.

Obviously you need to check, but thy can probably take AS CC without having taken it as GCSE, especially if they have taken History so in that sense it would leave the options open for later.

On the other hand if you are concerned about how they will cope generally with work-load etc at GCSE I would go with CC as it will take less time away from other subjects.

If your DD leans towards Arts/Humanities might not Geography be better option as it straddles Humanities/Science so would demonstrate a bit of bredth if she took it to AS level?

Seems like a long time ago we were doing this & then I realised we'll be there again in less than a year! Hope you decide on something you are all happy with.

magwich2 · Post by **magwich2** » Wed Jan 20, 2010 10:43 am

DD did 13 gcses and the most difficult by far was Latin. Not boasting AT ALL but her results were all A* except eng. lang. (described by school as always being a bit of an unknown quantity for all pupils) and Latin which were A. She only did as well as she did in Latin because one of the options was a Roman Life paper which was answered in english!
So, if you are concerned about the number of A*s she gets (and aren't we all in the mad-house misleadingly entitled "education" nowadays!) then I do not think we would recommend Latin sad as that is.
DD's theory is that every entrant for Latin is very committed with a large number being from indies where the teaching is excellent and the pupils have probably studied it since the age of 8 and that the grade boundaries are therefore very high - don't know but it sounds very convincing - no huge collectionof the below average to get those grade boundaries down!

Amber · Post by **Amber** » Wed Jan 20, 2010 1:45 pm

Latin is definitely the more academic option: at DD's school the top sets do Latin and the lower ones CC. Latin is very highly regarded now by universities desperate to find some way of discriminating all the A*s from each other. It is quite an 'old-fashioned' course, maybe more like an 'O' level and quite demanding.

Children at DD's school study Latin from Year 7 (most have not done any before that) and 70% got A* last year, with the remaining 30% getting A. This is a non-selective school - so much depends on the teachers. If the teacher is any good, I would say do Latin.

Bexley · Post by **Bexley** » Wed Jan 20, 2010 1:48 pm

Thanks KB and Magwich2

It's the first time we've been involved in making this decision and it seems that nowadays you need to also look ahead to probable A level/degree choices, which is difficult enough for me to get my head around , let alone a 13 year old!

I just don't want to give her the wrong advice now, in case it has repercussions later on.......Oh for a crystal ball!

Thanks again

Bexley xx

KB · Post by KB » Wed Jan 20, 2010 1:58 pm

Perhaps it also depends on which board it is for Latin?
I hadn't heard about the 'Roman Life' paper before. Mine dis a translation & a grammar paper only, which I'm guessing is maybe the harder option.

doodles · Post by **doodles** » Wed Jan 20, 2010 2:44 pm

Hi Bexley mum - can you look at the syllabuses for both. I did Latin at 'O' level (as it was then) and 'A' level and thoroughly enjoyed it. Then CC was more like a history subject and was also great fun but it was definately the "lighter" subject, is this still the case?

I have never regretted doing either subject but I have to admit that people are always quite impressed with Latin 'A' level as it has some novelty value!

Bexley · Post by **Bexley** » Wed Jan 20, 2010 7:15 pm

Thanks to everyone for their replies.

I am going to contact dd's latin teacher (who she's had since yr7) to see if she feels dd is capable of 'good' pass at Latin. If so, dd is now swinging that way as she feels it could help with a uni place.

Thanks again!

Bexley xx