An educator’s perspective

Latin teacher Tom Herpel vowed never to become a language teacher. After taking five years of Spanish, he felt that everything was assigned a point value and believed he could not stray from the curriculum to explore the language further. However, one thing changed his perspective on foreign languages: a college mythology class. 

Herpel’s mythology class discussed myths of ancient Greece and Rome, many of the artifacts he analyzed, such as ancient inscriptions, were written in Latin. Following this class, Herpel enrolled in Latin, all while furthering his education through Roman history classes and study abroad programs in Rome.

“I remember the exact moment when everything became real. Until that point, Latin was almost a language of legends — like the Trojan war, Atlantis and even stories of Roman emperors. I thought they were all just stories,” Herpel said. “Over fall break, three other guys and I went to Greece. We were in Athens and walked into the National Archaeological Museum. The first case held Schliemann’s Mask of Agamemnon. Underneath were two gold swords dated 1200 BCE. For whatever reason, I looked at these swords and thought, ‘somebody fought with that. This is a real thing. These stories are real. These people are real.’ That hit me like a ton of bricks. Through this language, I have shared those historical and cultural stories with others. It has been a joy because I get to relive these stories over and over again.”

Even though Latin has been removed from middle schools, high school Latin teachers will still have employment. However, Parkway Administration’s decision to remove Latin A and B surprised not only Herpel. Parkway Central’s Latin teacher Matt Pikaard also found the decision unexpected and was disheartened by the limited communication between Latin teachers and the administration.

“I don’t want to sound like I’m completely up and arms against Parkway. I understand this is a complicated decision. I wished, and what all [Latin] teachers wished, was that with these decisions, we have some sort of communication before,” Pikaard said. “I feel if someone reached out to me in the last few years and told me about the possibility of this happening, I could process it and come up with ways to right the ship. The lack of communication really hurt [me and other Latin teachers] because we’ve been teaching in this district for over 10 years. We’re very invested in this district and hoped [that] there could’ve been more communication from the main office.”

Regardless of the discontinuation of middle school enrollment, Herpel believes that Latin will remain strong since it primarily appeals to many different interests in the student body. 

“Latin can be a comfort to every student, no matter where they’re coming from or their interest. The language is incredibly versatile: it speaks to the student interested in history; the one who loves storytelling in mythology and historical events; the ones who are interested in learning another language; those who love looking at things through a journalistic view with author’s viewpoint and bias; those who enjoy English and expanding their vocabulary; those interested in fields rooted in Latin like medicine or law; those who enjoy mathematical rules and patterns,” Herpel said. “Latin has something to offer for everyone, and to get rid of a class with that kind of scope and allows students to take risks would be a detriment to the student population.”

Reasons for taking Latin differ among all students. The incredibly versatile language appeals to students interested in studying anything from liberal arts to STEM fields. (Madi Michajliczenko)

Although disappointed by the decision, Herpel recognizes Parkway’s intent to reallocate funds to courses with larger class sizes. Yet, he still has concerns regarding future decisions affecting languages. 

“I understand the thought process behind the decision [to cut Latin from the middle school], but on the flip side, I know languages have come and gone. It starts with little things like shrinking a budget or removing a level because you haven’t met a student threshold. So you feel your world shrinking and the ground beneath your feet disintegrating, and you have to look to your superiors for support. [Principal John] McCabe has done a fantastic job supporting me as a teacher and a professional; having that support is very significant when it comes to my feelings of longevity in the program,” Herpel said. “Ultimately, middle school program or not, if you don’t have the students, it won’t work. But, my positive thinking tells me as long as we have the kind of students in the program we do now — ones who fight for what they believe in — [and] as long as I’m still standing on my two feet, fighting for what I believe, I think this program is going to be successful as long as we can.”

Latin students have taken the task of raising registration numbers into their own hands by encouraging rising freshmen to enroll and explaining the program’s benefits to current high schoolers. Herpel greatly appreciates these measures and values his connection to his students.

“I’ve been blessed to have such great relationships with my students. They’re so invested in the language, the environment and me as a teacher. The idea that that experience might not be an option in the future should numbers continue to dwindle has been very meaningful to me,” Herpel said. “A lot of the time, teachers do not get any sort of inkling of whether or not students are grateful for the work that we do, whether it has an impact, whether it inspires or motivates — most of the time, we are in the dark. To get this kind of support from my students means the absolute world to me and truly makes me believe this is something to fight for. [Latin is] something we want to continue having. We don’t want it to disappear.”