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

[skp]

Preserving the Latin Literature exam in addition to the Vergil exam is crucial for drawing students into the field of Latin: for many highschoolers, Vergil's subjects (epic, pastoral) are too removed from their daily lives to inspire much interest. Catullus's, on the other hand, will forever appeal to pubescents and teachers alike for their immediacy and relevance even in the 21st century. And for those students striving for a well-rounded Latin curriculum, the ability to take both Latin exams would be a great motivation to pursue study in a variety of texts.

Stephanie Pearson
Ph.D. student, UC Berkeley

[Lisa Adams]

AP Latin liturature plays a vital role in the expansion fo experience for students showing them that the experience of translating latin goes much further beyond epic poetry such as Virgil. For those students who do not get the full impact of virgil other authors in the liturature exam may spark their interest andhopefully inspire them to continue latin int he future which is the ultimate goal, to inspire. As a future latin teacher i would be horrified and disapointed If not given all the tools and opportunities to do my job and spark and interst in a student.
Lisa Adams
Undergraduate Classics Major, UC Davis, CA
Student Teacher

[Sarah Bolmarcich]

Please do not cancel AP Latin. It would be a detriment to both secondary and college-level Latin instruction in this country.

Sarah Bolmarcich
Lecturer in Classics
University of Texas at Austin

[James Patterson]

James Patterson

Assistant Instructor
Dept. of Classics
University of Texas at Austin

[Rachel Hill]

Ronnie Ancona is right on target. As a new teacher in the AP program I am very disappointed in the prospect of teaching only Virgil to upper level students for the next 25 years. High school curricula have a responsibility to offer surveys of the target subject matter. Would one teach geometry without teaching the Pythagorean theory?

[Ann Maclean]

I advise freshmen at my school, and the very day I learned the news about the cancellation I was signing forms with the student's four-year plans on them. When I saw a few students (in Latin II as freshmen) planned to take AP Latin both their junior and senior year, it saddened me that I now have to tell these freshmen that there will not be a Latin course to take their senior year. As I am the only Latin teacher here, we will likely decide to drop the fifth year of Latin altogether, now that the AP Latin Literature is not a (combined IV-V) option.

I cannot believe that the College Board did not even consider alternating years between AP Latin Literature and AP Vergil (as every school I know in the area does.) This is the only way I can see that they would save money, and at the same time continue to serve the growing community of Latin students. If this course were followed, there would only be one transition year, which some programs on the opposite rotation would have to skip. Without the second AP Latin, schools are forced either to drop the fifth year, add some sort of after-AP honors class, which seems to me ridiculous, or drop the AP altogether (a course at least one school in the area I know is seriously considering, and one which I will certainly entertain.)

In the end, it seems to me the College Board will lose money, instead of save. I wholeheartedly support a protest to this inconsiderate and devastating ruling.

Ann Renzy Maclean
The Madeira School
McLean, VA

[Ann Maclean]

Who are this year's AP readers? Any chance they will get together as a group and boycott? Perhaps I am being naive, but it seems to me that ETS needs us more than we need them.

[Karl Galinsky]

Given the extensive and pervasive tradition of Rome in American culture, both high and low, it is essential that Latin authors be fully represented in the AP menu. Latin is a major part of our cultural patrimony and needs to be recognized as such.

Karl Galinsky
University Distinguished Teaching Professor
University of Texas at Austin

[Sarah A. Landis]

I took both AP courses in high school, Vergil in my junior year and Catullus/Horace in my senior year. I have a much greater appreciation for Vergil now than I did then, but at the time it was Catullus who sent me towards a Classics major in college, and from there to grad school. I hate to think that current students will be deprived of what was for me and might also be for them an immensely valuable opportunity. I am also afraid that removing one AP curriculum will lead to decreased in interest in the other and in advanced secondary school Latin in general.

I would like to add my name to the petition.

Sarah A. Landis
Graduate Student, UNC Chapel Hill
B.A. in Classics, Emory University, 2007

[Sara Neumann]

Students still want to take the exam, and I think that's the bottom line. I've seen this happen at high schools and universities... students want to study the Classics, but apparently to whoever in charge, it doesn't look "profitable"! It's not like there is a lack of interest from those studying or teaching it... the "lack of interest" is from administrations trying to save money, or in this case, the College Board.

Sara Neumann
ACL member 03-present
(Ohio/ACL member at large - not sure there's a delegation for Rome, Italy!)
Certified Latin teacher (though I'm not currently in the teaching profession, so put me in whatever category you want)

[RomulusLw]

Hi, I'm Brian Gross. All of Lincoln-Way East supports your cause. We just finished the Catullus/Ovid syllabus and are all very sad we will be the last ones to experience it. Us Seniors are especially sad that future generations will miss what we've learned. Again, good luck and LWE is behind you.

[KT]

In order to direct resources more intensively toward building a richer array of curricular resources and teacher supports (reinforcing the notion that AP is not just an exam, but an entire, curricular program), it is essential that we focus our efforts on supporting AP courses that are proving attractive, college-level opportunities for students and educators. Accordingly, to focus our efforts, as we scale up our investment in curricular resources and professional development, we will be discontinuing AP subject areas that are “second” offerings in particular areas and are not generating increases in student and teacher interest and participation. (AP French Language will remain; AP French Literature will be discontinued; AP Computer Science A will remain; AP Computer Science AB will be discontinued; AP Latin: Vergil will remain; AP Latin Literature will be discontinued). In addition, due to the very low interest in AP Italian, we will discontinue that program unless significant external funding is raised and executed by May 1, 2009.


That was the response I received from CollegeBoard when I emailed them. I know several students who were upset that Latin Literature is being cancelled. Fortunately, we were able to rearrange our course selections so that we can take the class before it is discontinued. However, the number of people who decided to switch form Vergil to Catullus/Ovid to take the class the last year it will be offered is a good indication that many are very interested in Latin Literature and that the CollegeBoard's decision is unwise.