You are absolutely right Ed....and that's why we were required to take Latin back then. Something like 75% of English words are Latin derivatives...maybe more!! I took 3 yrs of Latin in high school ....Latin 4 was not offered...then majored in Latin in Albany State Teachers' College after high school. When I went back to collage in 1981 for Nursing I went full time days with all the new high school grads. I was appalled at their ignorance of their native tongue and of course they knew NOTHING about medical terms (so important in Nursing) because they had no background in Latin. My Freshman English Professor in DCC when I went back in 1981 told me after the first class that "I was a joy to have in class". She went on to say that kids today are taught nothing compared to when she and I went to school....she was absolutely right. I could hardly believe the essays they wrote....pathetic!! I'm finding nowadays too that Geography is not taught in most of the schools. I remember when I was in grade school the huge flat map of the world next to the blackboard.....rolled up only when school was closed.....and the enormous round globe on a stand in the library. School kids and young adults for the most part haven't a clue as to what a map looks like.....or which country abuts which, etc. Maureen ----- Original Message ----- From: <GWGEHoyt@aol.com> To: <nywestch@rootsweb.com> Sent: Saturday, August 25, 2007 11:15 AM Subject: Re: [NYWESTCH] Ramblings about Dutch >I had two years of Latin in High School and it has been a help to me > throughout my whole life. > George > > > ************************************** > Get a sneak peek of > the all-new AOL at http://discover.aol.com/memed/aolcom30tour > *************************************** > Have you checked out the Westchester County GenWeb site yet? > http://www.rootsweb.com/~nywestch/ > *************************************** > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > NYWESTCH-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message