Andrew Gollan has had quite the career.
asserted
Gollan → have → career
After completing an arts degree in Latin and ancient Greek in the 1990s, he moved to America, became a US resident and worked in Silicon Valley as a software engineer.
asserted
he → complete → engineer
But he felt there was more to life than writing code.
asserted
he → feel → code
“I really wanted to do something which, I thought, was important,” he said.
asserted
he → want → something
After completing a master’s degree, where the language of instruction was Latin, he worked as a teacher across America before returning home to Australia.
asserted
he → complete → Australia
In 2019, he arrived at the Shire’s Caringbah High to relaunch the classical language at the school.
asserted
he → arrive → school
Across NSW, Latin has had some difficult decades, falling from 1558 enrolments – about 8 per cent of all students in the first year of the HSC – in 1967 to 129 students this year.
asserted
Latin → have → students
It is a long, steep decline which some might describe as terminal, so it might seem strange that Caringbah High would revive the language.
uncertain
High → describe → language
German had been on offer but struggled to attract students past year 8.
asserted
German → struggle → year
The then-principal, who had his own fond memories of studying Latin, felt it might be a better fit.
uncertain
it → have → Latin
“That’s how he presented it to me at least,” Gollan says.
asserted
Gollan → ’ → me
Six years on, things are going well.
asserted
things → go → ?
Year 7 students entering high school do a medley of languages, a term each is spent on French, Japanese and Latin before choosing one.
asserted
students → enter → one
So far, Latin has enough students to fill two year 8 classes and a decent-sized year 9 class.
asserted
Latin → have → classes
“I lose a couple between year 9 and year 10,” says Gollan.
asserted
Gollan → lose → year
The first cohort of year 7 students who commenced in 2021 sat the HSC Latin continuers exam this year.
asserted
who → commence → exam
And six students who commenced the subject when in year 8 completed HSC exams last year.
asserted
who → commence → exams
“It’s a big ask for a school like this to run classes that are this small, and to do it regularly enough so the kids know that they’ve got a decent pathway to the HSC and they’re not going to be, sort of, chopped off at the knees,” he says.
asserted
he → ’ → knees
In NSW, it’s not just Latin in crisis but other languages too.
asserted
it → ’ → crisis
In the 1960s, over a third of students learnt a language other than English.
asserted
third → learn → English
When the NSW curriculum was reviewed in 2020, it was recommended requiring every student to commence learning a second language in primary.
asserted
it → review → primary
But it was never adopted.
asserted
it → adopt → ?
Part of the problem is a lack of teachers – a French teacher at Newtown High pocketed a $20,000 sign-on bonus just for taking the job earlier this year.
asserted
teacher → pocket → job
Students in public schools are aware of the challenges with running languages, including Caringbah High’s Sarah Napper, 18.
asserted
Students → run → Napper
She associates Latin with exclusive private and certain selective schools.
asserted
She → associate → private
By comparison, she says while her school is selective, it’s commonly perceived as a “mid-tier”.
asserted
it → say → tier
“I don’t think Latin should be exclusively taught in selective schools or these upper-tier private schools …
asserted
Latin → think → schools
I think everyone can do difficult things, and I think doing Latin has been really good for me,” she says.
asserted
she → think → me
While she enjoys the subject now, she says it was a steep learning curve.
asserted
it → enjoy → subject
“It’s an analytical language, which basically means that instead of using many words like English to encode a meaning, it instead encodes meaning through changing the words itself,” she said.
asserted
she → ’ → words
HSC enrolment data shows over the past 15 years, Latin has dropped from 176 students to 140 last year.
asserted
Latin → show → 140
But some schools have seen a small bounce in Latin enrolments, including some selective and certain private schools.
asserted
schools → see → schools
Among them is all-boys school Shore, where eight students took the subject last year.
asserted
students → take → subject
Latin teacher Joanna Watkins likes to categorise students who choose the subject into three distinct groups.
asserted
who → like → groups
“The students with a maths brain enjoy the decoding of Latin,” she says.
asserted
she → enjoy → Latin
She’s also noticed something else.
asserted
She → notice → something
“More recently, we get kids who have been tutored in Latin before they come into year 7,” she said.
asserted
she → get → year
She is unsure what exactly is driving that.
asserted
what → drive → that
“I can only guess that the parents are looking at schools which offer Latin,” she said.
asserted
she → guess → Latin
She linked the subject’s popularity with the school’s high performance in the subject, while students aspiring to study at universities overseas saw it as an advantage.
asserted
students → link → advantage
…and 27 more, not listed.
The Aporia
