About declamation, IB Latin, and the benefits and challenges of having a four-year Latin requirement.

Founded in 2006 and modeled after the Boston Latin School, The Brooklyn Latin School (TBLS) is one of nine specialized high schools in the New York City public school system. With an emphasis on public speaking, structured writing, analytical thinking, and Socratic seminars, TBLS requires all of its discipuli – and yes, they’re referred to as discipuli, not as students – to complete a full four-year Latin program. The discipuli of TBLS wear uniforms whose purple accents “reflect the color worn by Roman nobility,” and the school’s motto is reflective of the high expectations to which its discipuli are held: CUI MULTUM SIT DATUM, MULTUM AB EO POSTULABITUR (“To whom much has been given, much from him will be demanded”). According to data collected and analyzed by U.S. News and World Report, The Brooklyn Latin School is among the top one hundred public high schools in America.

Jennifer Snyder serves as Chair of the Department of Classics at TBLS. Jennifer earned a B.A. in Classics from Smith College and an M.A. in Classics from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and she has been teaching at TBLS since 2011. 

The Brooklyn Latin School

CORRECTION: A listener in Boston pointed out that the Boston Latin School still requires four years of Latin.

Quintilian is supported by a Bridge Initiative Grant from the Committee for the Promotion of Latin and Greek, a division of the Classical Association of the Middle West and South. 

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Music: "Echo Canyon Instrumental" by Clive Romney

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