AP Latin Literature Cancelled -- Please Add Your Name

[Andrew Reinhard]

Salve,

As many of you know, AP Latin Literature is being cancelled, although AP Vergil will remain in place for the immediate future. Please read the letter from the AP in the news section on the right and the letter from Ronnie Ancona in the Blog, and if you feel strongly about keeping the AP Latin Literature program alive and active in the United States, please add a comment to this post with your name and school affiliation attached. I will collect these in preparation for what is sure to be a counter-offensive by some of the leading lights in US Classics education. Thanks for adding your names to the list.

Andrew Reinhard
Director of eLearning
Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers

[Stephen Bryant]

I am writing not a Latin teacher, but as a student, a parent and hopefully a grandparent someday.

When I was in high school, the AP courses I took were the best in the school. I was challenged by them and worked harder and learned more as a result, and did very well on the exams. I'd like future students to have the same chance.

Although Latin was not one of those courses, I wish now that it had been. There is so much in classical literature that is of value in every era, including ours, that we all benefit the more widely it is known.

I think that a wide range of AP subjects should be available to students, and including those that wouldn't win a popularity contest. Cost matters, true, but so does value.

Stephen Bryant, Blue Bell, PA

[Joan Tomaszewski]

Salve - AP should be in the business of encouraging America's most promising students in the studies of their choice, rather than limiting their options. --- Joan Tomaszewski

[Charles Umiker]

O tempora, O mores

Charles Umiker
The Pennington School

[Kyle Smith]

It is deplorable that the AP board undervalues the Classics. Were they considering replacing it with an AP exam in IMing or texting?

[Cathleen O'Shea]

I am very disappointed about the cancellation of the AP exam. As a teacher starting a program at a new high school, I had planned to encourage students to set their sights on an A.P. course in their 4th year. My son, who is a math major at Princeton, took the AP exam in high school. Latin was among his favorite courses in high school, and one of the few that challenged him! Isn't American education supposed to be about providing opportunities?

[Federica Ciccolella]

Everybody who has studied Latin poetry knows that it is *not* just Virgil. I like Virgil but do not find Catullus, Ovid, and Lucan less interesting and stimulating for a class.

Mala tempora currunt.

Federica Ciccolella
Texas A&M University

[Chris Geggie]

As a product of both AP examinations, my preparation for college level instruction in Latin was exemplary and thus I know well the benefits of having both exams integrated into a rigorous curriculum at the high school level. By removing this valued and time tested component, the College Board is in effect lowering the educational standards of every Latin program across the country (especially since it has been done on such short notice) and furthermore diminishes the opportunities for the recognition of students' hard work.

The fact that this decision was made without any consultation is a further slap in the face of educational professionals because it necessarily implies that College Board knows far better than any teacher what is best for his or her students.

Christopher Kenneth Geggie
Wabash College

[Abigail Palmer]

What a terrible shame. I am hoping to develop a four-year Latin curriculum at the high school level, and the cancellation of the Literature test really limits my options for more advanced students. Not to mention that it deprives them of a good opportunity to encounter some of the greatest Latin poetry they will ever translate...

[Abigail Palmer]

The previous post was posted by:
Abigail Palmer
St. Helena Montessori School
St. Helena, CA

[Wanda Feletski]

I am quite dismayed over hearing about the cancellation of the AP Latin Literature course. I feel that this course is invaluable for students who are interested in broad spectrum of Literature and not just Vergil. It's a shame that everything boils down to money!

Wanda Feletski
Nazareth Academy High School
Philadelphia, PA

[Michelle Shupp]

I am truly saddened by this decision by the AP board. I was under the impression that the numbers were steady/increasing. Regardless of this, if students are taking the exam and studying the curriculum, why would the AP board cease to give the exam? My students truly benefit from this course of study, and I am deeply upset about this sub par explanation on the part of the AP board.

[H. Katharine Sheeler]

I will defer to Cicero: O Tempora! O Mores!