# Poll: Did you learn Latin in high school? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 29, 2004, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-did-you-learn-latin-in-high-school/252765 "2004-06-29T20:59:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helen_s_Eidolon)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2004, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-did-you-learn-latin-in-high-school/252765/1 "2004-06-29T20:59:03Z")
If you could be so kind as to respond to these questions. 1. Did you learn Latin in high school? 2. In what year did you graduate high school? 3. Where did you go to high school (region, city and country is fine, I don’t need the exact name)? This is part curiosity, part solving a disagreement. Thank you for answering! ---
**Author:** ![Palikia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e95f7d/32.png) [@Palikia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palikia)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2004, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-did-you-learn-latin-in-high-school/252765/2 "2004-06-29T21:05:10Z")
I had two years of high school Latin. Graduated in 1960 from a school in Kansas. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2004, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-did-you-learn-latin-in-high-school/252765/3 "2004-06-29T21:06:46Z")
1. Yes, in grades 9 & 10 (public school) 2. 1965 3. Anchorage, AK 4. I was terrible at it, but it improved my English grades immeasurably. ---
**Author:** ![Cosmopolitan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/94ad74/32.png) [@Cosmopolitan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cosmopolitan)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2004, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-did-you-learn-latin-in-high-school/252765/4 "2004-06-29T21:14:30Z")
1. No 2. 1997 3. U.S.A. - Long Island, NY ---
**Author:** ![tsarina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f4b2a3/32.png) [@tsarina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tsarina)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2004, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-did-you-learn-latin-in-high-school/252765/5 "2004-06-29T21:15:35Z")
I took it my senior year - 1999 - in Monroe, Michigan. ---
**Author:** ![TitoBenito](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2acd7d/32.png) [@TitoBenito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TitoBenito)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2004, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-did-you-learn-latin-in-high-school/252765/6 "2004-06-29T21:16:15Z")
1. Yes (Jr. and Sr. year) 2. 2000 3. Houston, Texas ---
**Author:** ![Lsura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2004, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-did-you-learn-latin-in-high-school/252765/7 "2004-06-29T21:16:02Z")
1. Nope, even though I went to a Catholic high school. 2. 1991 3. Chattanooga, TN ---
**Author:** ![percypercy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8baadc/32.png) [@percypercy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/percypercy)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2004, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-did-you-learn-latin-in-high-school/252765/8 "2004-06-29T21:17:07Z")
Latin was required for all 8th graders. Once you got into high school you could choose French, Spanish or Latin. I took Latin. I had had five years of Latin total by the time I graduated. That was 1999, Memphis, Tennessee. -Lil ---
**Author:** ![elfbabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b782af/32.png) [@elfbabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfbabe)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2004, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-did-you-learn-latin-in-high-school/252765/9 "2004-06-29T21:17:41Z")
Yes 2002 Milwaukee, WI It was an elective. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2004, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-did-you-learn-latin-in-high-school/252765/10 "2004-06-29T21:26:34Z")
Yes 1972 4 years, two years at a prep school in Philly and two years at a public high school in San Diego. (Guess which two years I got more out of?) ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2004, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-did-you-learn-latin-in-high-school/252765/11 "2004-06-29T21:27:15Z")
1. No, it wasn’t even offered. I would have taken it if it had been. 2. 1987 3. Shingle Springs (Sierra Foothills area), CA ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2004, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-did-you-learn-latin-in-high-school/252765/12 "2004-06-29T21:34:00Z")
I took two years of Latin at Redwood Highschool, in Larkspur, California, in 1992 and 1993. I graduated in 1994. My school required either three years in one language, or four years in two languages to graduate, and the offered languages were French, Spanish (which I also took, in '91 and '92), and Latin. There was only one Latin teacher, who was a bit elderly, and I doubt the school would have gone out of their way to recruit another one when he retired. If he did retire: might still be teaching there, for all I know. Despite the classes I took, today I can speak neither Latin nor Spanish. I much gooder at English, tho. ---
**Author:** ![PigArcher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bcef8e/32.png) [@PigArcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PigArcher)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2004, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-did-you-learn-latin-in-high-school/252765/13 "2004-06-29T21:43:33Z")
1. 3 years - 8th, 9th, and 10th grade. 2. Graduated in 1990 3. Private (but not Catholic) school in La Canada, CA ---
**Author:** ![Ms\_Boods](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5e9695/32.png) [@Ms\_Boods](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms_Boods)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2004, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-did-you-learn-latin-in-high-school/252765/14 "2004-06-29T22:03:45Z")
Yes. The nun in question was retired, and at that point, Latin was an elective, not a required course; up until she retired in the early 70s, four years were required. 1983 An Ursuline school in the States (Delaware). Despite my best efforts, I learnt it – my dissertation was a translation of a 9th century Latin verse biography, 3,000 lines. (I also took Latin all 4 years of uni, and 3 terms at the University of Minnesota, and then 4 or 5 terms at UVa; also mediaeval Latin whilst at the grad level. One of my PhD subfields was Latin palaeography. More than you wanted to know, prolly… ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2004, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-did-you-learn-latin-in-high-school/252765/15 "2004-06-29T22:14:04Z")
I suppose I should add that Redwood highschool is a public school, although it’s in Marin County, which is one of the more insanely affluent areas of the country. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_Wright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Steve\_Wright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_Wright)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2004, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-did-you-learn-latin-in-high-school/252765/16 "2004-06-29T22:18:07Z")
Do you need any data from funny foreign countries? I did four years of Latin (1978-1981) at grammar school in southern England … ---
**Author:** ![Omega\_Glory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7c8e57/32.png) [@Omega\_Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omega_Glory)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2004, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-did-you-learn-latin-in-high-school/252765/17 "2004-06-29T22:28:42Z")
No, but it was offered. 2000 My old high school is in a small town near Buffalo NY. ---
**Author:** ![Rufus\_Xavier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@Rufus\_Xavier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rufus_Xavier)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2004, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-did-you-learn-latin-in-high-school/252765/18 "2004-06-29T22:28:51Z")
1. No 2. '86 3. Opal/L. A., CA ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2004, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-did-you-learn-latin-in-high-school/252765/19 "2004-06-29T22:31:13Z")
> [@LaurAnge](#): > > If you could be so kind as to respond to these questions. > > 1. Did you learn Latin in high school? > 2. In what year did you graduate high school? > 3. Where did you go to high school (region, city and country is fine, I don’t need the exact name)? [ol] [li]Yes[/li][li]84[/li][li]I didn’t graduate from the same place I took the Latin, so it doesn’t relate.[/li][/ol] ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2004, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-did-you-learn-latin-in-high-school/252765/20 "2004-06-29T22:37:13Z")
Yes. Graduated high school in suburban Philadelphia in 1975. Our freshman year, we had to take one-quarter each of German, French, Spanish and Latin, then decide which language we wanted to keep taking. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-did-you-learn-latin-in-high-school/252765.md?page=2)