What Happened to Latin Among the Romans?
Douglas Domingo-Forasté, California State University Long Beach
Winning the Battle but Losing the War
If the title of this paper now stands clarified, there remains the undoubtedly puzzling reference to a 1970’s television show, “Room 222.” How does “Room 222” episode about the Latin teacher come to a resolution? The main student characters devise a plan under the guidance of their very hip teachers; and the character, Jason, reads translated passages from Ovid’s Ars Amatoria in his most seductive bass voice on the campus radio station. Students sign up for Latin in overwhelming numbers—but in the last scene of the episode, we see Jason and the others reciting declensions in the classroom and their looks of utter boredom reveal their realization of a terrible mistake. Latin has not been taught at Los Angeles High in almost three decades, since in fact the retirement of its last Latin teacher. Thus, Latin came to an end at Los Angeles High and is taught in only about a 25 high schools in Los Angeles Unified, a city of some 3 million people. Obviously there are still many private schools that teach it and some public high schools in Orange County, notably in more affluent areas like Irvine and Newport Beach.
