Why Latin? [pdf]

I'd like to suggest that training in Latin improves the precision of one's writing. However, when one reads "In the 1700’s the University of Georgia, like many of its contemporaries,required of incoming freshmen ...", you do wonder; the University of Georgia did not graduate its first class until 1804. And in general the prose could use a good tidying.<p>That said, I'm all in favor of Latin in the schools.

I'm European, and my mothertongue is strictly derivated from Latin. In the 70% of High School Diplomas, Latin is really important subject, because really help the students in the total understanding of every word in their mother tongue. Also, we study latin because a lot of authors use latin for wrote their "essay", like Cicerone, Cesare, etc.. In some Classic HS Diploma, the students also study the ancient Greek.<p>Latin is really good for understand our roots, our opera, our story, our tongue, and is a really good exercise for keep the mind elastic.<p>P.S1: I'm speaking about Europe.<p>P.S2: I have an HS Diploma in Computer Science, so I never study latin :P (Although I attend a little 3months courses, when I was a kid :P)

I found that in studying Latin (and Ancient Greek at the same time) that they really helped improve my English (I'm Irish, so it's my native tongue). There really is a benefit to learning such a language, its structures and grammatical intricacies as it does give you a better understanding of your own language.