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Gerardo Castillo, School of Education and Psychology

Unreason against dead languages

Wed, 05 Aug 2020 10:08:00 +0000 Published in Alto Aragón Newspaper

An educational reform will soon be approved in Spain: the new LOMLOE. Everything points to the fact that in the curriculum de high school diploma will not include, for the first time, the historical teachings of Latin and Greek, which will considerably weaken the pathway of the Humanities, It will mean the disappearance of the origin of the Spanish language , Latin; and of the germ of 80 percent of the scientific and technical vocabulary, Greek.

As a result, prospective students will find it much harder to understand literature, art, Philosophy, science and political systems,

Unlike Spain, in Italy, Portugal, Greece and France, Latin will be continued for several years. Sweden currently has a system educational that constitutes a reference letter for other countries. One of its "secrets" is the great importance given to the languages - including Latin and Greek - for their great educational value. Each of them has a minimum of four hours per week of class.

Spain walks in the opposite direction. Here Latin and Greek are accused of being "dead languages" and anachronistic and useless subjects. If Latin and Greek are dead languages, why do we continue to use Latin and Greek words? Some examples of Latin words: Currículum vitae. Alter ego, A priori, Ipso facto. In situ, Grosso modo, Rara avis. Ex profeso. Idem. Accésit, Motu proprio, Sine die, Statu quo, Sui géneris, Sine qua non. In extremis, In albis, Vox populi. Cum laude. In fraganti. Stricto sensu. Modus vivendi. Ultimátum.

Some examples of Greek words: Calligraphy, Charisma, Kinetics. Cytology. Dactyl. Hemorrhage. Homologous. Mythology, Nephrology. Dentistry, Pediatrics.

Another problem: ancient is confused with anachronistic. Is Virgil's Aeneid anachronistic? Classical languages neither go out of fashion nor age. They are immortal. They are the most alive languages because they continue to evolve.

The misunderstanding of the misnamed "dead letters" is a consequence of the artificial crisis (provoked) of the Humanities in an excessively pragmatic society.

This crisis has, in my opinion, three causes, The first is the mythification of techno-science, The second is that scientific and technological progress has not been matched by progress in the ethical and cultural order, The third is the infiltration of utilitarianism in professional life projects.

Some parents do not like their children to pursue humanistic careers - even though they feel vocationally inclined to do so because they consider that they have less future than those of science. Putting a non-vocational science degree program before a vocational Humanities one just because of economic interests is a mistake. Who loves a certain degree program, has a lot in his favor to succeed and be happy; who does not love it, has it against him.

The case of Juan de Contreras y López de Ayala is very instructive. His parents suggested him not to study the degree program of Philosophy y Letras because they considered that he had no future. But he did: he was Full Professor of History of Spain and History of Art at the universities of Valencia and Madrid. And he is considered an eminent historian.

The learning of classical languages has a great deal of transferability (the possibility of applying what has been learned to other situations or new contexts). The linguistic Structures of Latin and Greek facilitate the learning of other languages. Their vocabulary financial aid to understand many terms from different disciplines. This is well known to medical students. For example: Psychopath: from psykhe (soul, mental activity) and pathos (emotion, feeling). It is the one who has a mental disorder.

It is encouraging that many companies today select their staff taking into account both technological and human skills of this subject: willingness to keep learning, initiative, eagerness to excel, work teamwork, decision making. Moreover, technological innovations such as artificial intelligence or robotics are highlighting the need for experts, both in classical languages and in other languages (mainly English), to increase and improve the interaction between humans and machines.

In the absence of subjects in the curriculum, the teacher of language Spanish can advise his students, as a voluntary extracurricular activity, bilingual readings of Latin and Greek authors that link with the interests of each age group. For example, the epic poem The Odyssey, which narrates the mythical war between the Greeks and Trojans may interest teenagers.

It is very important to recover the lost rhetorical ideal of the humanistic training : "The Education of people who are able to speak beautifully and with knowledge and respect for the truth and the good. That is a humanist". (Rafael Alvira).