A classical education with a focus on Latin develops a student’s awareness of the philosophical foundations for western education. It encourages the student to think about why we educate rather than just what we educate. It also emphasizes who we become rather than what we become.Not only does Latin provide the root words for all of the modern sciences, but Latin is the language of law, politics, logic, and theology. While a large number of words in science come from Greek, law is the exclusive domain of the Latin language. All legal terms are Latin. The Romans excelled in the practical arts of law and government, and it is from them that we derive our legal and political language. Latin is invaluable for business and law students. Although logic was first explained by Aristotle in Greek, it was really developed and systematized by the schoolmen in the Middle Ages—in Latin, of course.

And in the West, even Christian theology was worked out in Latin.  Many of the original words were Greek, but they were all filtered through the Latin language. In fact, everything that has come down to us from the ancient world was filtered through Latin. The major focus of traditional education, especially within the public schools, is to prepare for a career in society. The major focus of a classical education is who we will become as a person and what influence we might have upon others. The study of Latin also prepares a strong foundation for understanding many of the roots of the English language as well as Italian and Spanish. In addition to studying law, Latin gives a student a head start in preparing for a career in medicine or science since many terms are derived from a Latin root.

A classical education will lay the philosophical framework for understanding the ethical implications of a person’s actions in society, and support the student’s development of wisdom and virtue, and encourage the student to make a difference in whatever future role they choose to play in society.

Through the study of ancient cultures the student can identify many parallels to the processes of government, exchange of power, moral debates, and the ongoing changes in society that are occurring in the modern era. A classical education will give opportunities to develop skills in critical thinking, the art of debate, distinguishing right from wrong, becoming proactive instead of reactive participants in society, and empathizing with another person’s point of view in order to resolve conflicts.

Finally, some studies show that through studying Latin, test takers can better recognize the meanings of new words because they already know the roots and prefixes and that math scores also increase.