Latin is dying, but liberal arts education isn't?

A thoughful reader sent me a link to a very interesting article about the dying knowledge of Latin within the Church. The article is by Malcolm Moore in Rome, for the Sunday Telegraph, and entitled "Pope's Latinist pronounces death of a language" (Jan. 27, 2007).

Latin has for years been derided by recalcitrant students as a "dead language," of course. Now, however, the Pope's top adviser on Latin has reluctantly joined their ranks, it seems:

"It is dying in the Church. I'm not optimistic about Latin. The young priests and bishops are not studying it," said Fr Reginald Foster, 68, a Carmelite friar who was appointed the Papal Latinist 38 years ago by Pope Paul VI.

He said priests were no longer compelled to study Latin at seminaries, and now found it impossible to read vital theological tracts.

Fr. Foster goes on to make some interesting observations, such his speculation that the Holy Father has no intention of implementing his motu proprio. Some of you may recall a discussion of these views over at Rorate Caeli sometime ago, the upshot of which was to cast into doubt not the motu proprio but Fr. Foster's credibility at that point.

My interest in this article does not concern Fr. Foster's reference to the motu proprio, but his reference to the dying of Latin in the Church. He does go on to suggest some ways of staving off utter illiteracy in Latin for the moment. He makes some interesting observations, such as that "You do not need to be mentally excellent to know Latin," and "Prostitutes, beggars and pimps in Rome spoke Latin, so there must be some hope for us."

But my main thought is this: Why single out the dying out of Latin for this unique attention? Granted, it's a problem. But isn't it simply symptomatic of a much larger problem -- namely the dying out of the light of knowledge of the traditional liberal arts altogether?

I have long scandalized my students who come to class with their cell phones, i-pods, MP3 Players and state-of-the-art lap top computers by telling them that we inhabit a new dark ages. Of course, they're incredulous. It's not only Latin that's dead, however. It's math, history, German, French, literature, social studies, etc. This isn't to say there aren't occasional students to be found enthusiastically majoring in these subjects, but they're exceptions. Nerds. Delightful nerds, not the norm. The norm are those majoring in "Exercise science" (I'm not kidding), "Communications," or "Education" -- and the less said about the majority (not all) of those gravitating toward these majors, the better.

In a survey conducted amoung our students (Culture Quiz, June 30, 2006), most knew who "Paris Hilton's former best friend was, who had an on-again, off-again relationship with Adam Goldstein (AKA D.J. AM)," and most could answer correctly who the newest American Idol was, but hardly any could correctly answer questions about literature, classical music, or even politics.

Even among the more serious students, majoring in Business, Occupational Therapy, and Nursing, few students state that they have a habit of reading regularly or can remember the last book they read that was not assigned for a class.

Latin is dead? Well, I'm sad about that. I would encourage Latin as a prerequisite for all liberal arts learning. Greek as well, I suppose. But the liberal arts are dead too. Ask a student where Paris is, and you'll likely get an answer assuming you meant Paris Hilton.

[Hat tip to J.M.]