Why Latin and Ancient Greek Should Be Compulsory at GCSE: The Case for Classical Education

25 August, 2026 · Sebastian Moniz

I am probably one of the few people in the country to have done Latin and Ancient Greek at GCSE and A level. Naturally, my colleagues made fun of me, because they all had chosen far more common subjects. Their modern brains saw these languages as useless and somewhat snobbish. I view these scenarios as a perfect microcosm for the growing ignorance of the magnificent benefits Latin and Ancient Greek can bring. They unlock the entire foundation of the English language. They sharpen your mind. They teach you about the greatest civilisations to ever live. When more and more students deny themselves of these benefits, they deny themselves access to these intellectual gold mines. I firmly believe that the education system needs to stop this disaster by exposing all students to the wonders of Latin and Ancient Greek at GCSE. We can bring these languages back to their former glory.

What Classical Education Actually Means

Before I start I want to show you an oversimplified summary of what me and others actually learnt in the OCR Latin and Ancient Greek GCSE courses, as well as a basic definition:

. What Latin GCSE involves – I learnt grammar all the way from Oxford Latin Course Part 1 to Oxford Latin Course Part 3. This included verb endings, noun declensions, conjugations, the present tense, the past tense, the future tense, the active, the passive and the subjunctive. At the front of the book, there were also Latin passages that I could translate into English for practice. This was all for the Latin Language paper. For the Latin Literature paper I had to thoroughly study two Ancient Roman texts ( one prose and one verse). Finally, to study vocab I had an official OCR Defined Vocabulary List.

. What Ancient Greek GCSE involves – I learnt the grammar from Greek to GCSE: Part 1 to Greek to GCSE: Part 2, which included noun declensions, the present tense, the past tense, the aorist tense, the active, the passive, the middle voice and the subjunctive. For the Greek Literature paper, I could pick two options from the following categories: Prose Literature, Verse Literature, and Literature and culture. Like Latin, I had an OCR Defined Vocabulary List to study vocab.

. What a compulsory subject is – a core GCSE alongside Maths, English, Sciences, a modern foreign language and RE (for me).

The Foundation for English and Romance Languages

About 60%¹ of all English vocabulary is derived from Latin and Ancient Greek. Consequently, learning these languages dramatically benefit your vocabulary, spelling and grammar. For example, the word “microcosm” comes from the Greek mikros (meaning small) and kosmos (meaning world). Therefore, it literally means “small world”, and it is defined as a small event that reflects a larger problem. This means that I can use this word in my writing constantly without forgetting it (I have used it in previous articles). When I read a complex word like “microcosm” in a book, I immediately look for Latin and Greek derivations, because it can really help me remember the meaning and spelling of impressive vocab. Another example (for Latin this time) is when I was doing an unprepared, English vocab test in my English lesson. One of the words that came up was the word “paucity”, which I knew derived from the Latin word paucus (meaning little or few). Based on this, I guessed that the word meant a small quantity of something. I got the answer right, and I still remember the word to this day.

Learning Latin and Ancient Greek can also be extremely helpful in understanding English grammar. For example, before I started to learn Latin, I thought that I was extremely proficient in English. However, when my teacher asked the class about the difference between the imperfect tense and the perfect tense, I couldn’t come up with the answer. This is because English doesn’t have unique, dedicated verb endings that distinguish the imperfect tense and the perfect tense. When you learn Latin at GCSE level, you are forced to distinguish the two tenses (one is for completed actions while another is for ongoing actions) through different verb endings. Clear distinctions in Latin grammar that are not so clear in English grammar help you refine your knowledge of English.

The box below shows the results of two separate studies. The first one shows the results of a study done on a school in Dorchester (Massachusetts), comparing the general English proficiency of Latin students with non-Latin students. The second experiment ( done in Indianapolis) compared the vocabulary of an experimental group (with Latin students) with a control group of non-Latin students.

I also want to briefly talk about the Romance languages. Between 75% and 90%⁴ of vocabulary in the Romance languages are derived from Latin. This means that by learning Latin (not Greek), you will have a good head start if you ever decide to learn Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese or Romanian. This is achieved in the same way you get better at English by learning Latin and Greek (which was explained earlier). However, it is achieved on an even larger scale, because Latin makes up most of the foundation for every Romance language.

The Subjects That Sharpen the Mind

Latin and Ancient Greek sharpen the mind by building a strong memory, improving logical and analytical thinking, and increasing attention to detail. To demonstrate these three things I want to translate the English sentence below this paragraph into Latin. I will explain how logical thinking, memory, and attention to detail are required to translate it.

“After reading Quintus’ letter, he tried to comfort her.” – Quinti epistulā lectā, eam consolari conatus est.

. Logical thinking – at first glance, some people would look to translate the first clause literally by using the words post (meaning after) and legens (a present participle that literally means reading). The problem is that present participles are only used when two things are simultaneous e.g. , “The dying Caesar was dragged across the floor” (Caesar is dying while he is being dragged across the floor, so the two processes are simultaneous). If you look at the whole of the model sentence, you can clearly see that the two events are separate. This means that you should use the ablative absolute to translate the first clause, which yields: Quinti epistulā lectā. This literally translates to “With Quintus’ letter having been read,” but it can be translated as “After reading Quintus’ letter.” Translating a clause like this into Latin requires you to look at the big picture of the sentence, which then allows you to make a decision on what technique to use based on the context. You are forced to use your common sense and think logically. Moreover, you can also see how you have a bit of lee way when translating from Latin to English or vice versa. You have to decide what works in the context of the sentence, which again requires logical thinking.

. Attention to detail – in the first clause, the words epistulā and lectā both have an “a” with a macron on it as the last letter. This macron is what makes these words ablative instead of nominative, so if you removed the macron the clause would not longer be in the ablative absolute (and thus the meaning of the sentence would collapse). Constantly recognising this difference during translation trains you to notice tiny details in any task.

. Strong memory – I want to focus on the deponent verb consolari, which is in the second clause. Most active verbs in Latin have an infinitive that ends in either -are, -е̄re, ere, or ire. Therefore, it is easy to make the mistake of translating the phrase “to comfort” as consolire or consolare. However, you have to recognise and remember that the verb consolor is a deponent verb, which means that it is passive in form and active in meaning. This means that it has a passive infinitive rather than an active infinitive. When you learn Latin or Ancient Greek, you have to remember exceptions like these during translation, which develops your memory. You also have to memorise a lot of things just to get the basics right, such as cases (especially the ablative in Latin), endings, conjugations and declensions. Even the regular, basic stuff strengthens your memory.

Below this paragraph is a quote from someone called Diane Scharper. Diane reviewed a book called Long Live Latin:  The Pleasures of a Useless Language, which was written by Oxford professor Nicola Gardini (who urges people to read and study Latin). I think Gardini perfectly summarises what I have been trying to say in the paragraphs above.

There are a number of reasons why I think Romance languages don’t sharpen your mind as much as Latin or Ancient Greek does. First of all, the word order in Latin or Greek does not change the meaning, so you can’t simply translate a sentence cleanly from left to right. If you have a noun on one side, its adjective could be one or two words away. You have to assemble each piece of a sentence based on endings and context (much like completing a puzzle). This forces a systematic, analytical approach to translation that Romance languages do not require.

Romance languages heavily rely on prepositions like “of”, “to” or “with” to show relationships between words. In contrast, the Classics show these relationships through a system of case endings for nouns. Changing one letter at the end of a noun completely changes its role. Naturally, the Classics require more precision than Romance languages.

Finally, the Classics just have far more things to memorise. Latin has six cases and five declensions. Greek has five cases and three declensions. In contrast, most Romance languages do not use cases or declensions (with Romanian being an exception). This means that the sheer volume of endings you have to memorise when learning the Classics is far greater, so they develop your memory more. The Classics also have far more exceptions and anomalies than Romance languages, because more verbs have undergone the process of suppletion (unpredictable stem changes), which reinforces this point.

The Civilisations That Built the Modern World

Both the Romans and the Greeks laid the foundation for Western civilisation. This includes philosophy, religion, drama, democracy, architecture, law and medicine. Students who do not learn Latin or Greek are not able to access these civilisations in their original form. Additionally, when you learn Latin and Greek at GCSE level, you naturally pick up some Roman or Greek history, literature and drama. This is because the passages you translate in the textbook and the verse or prose you study expose you to these things. Therefore, you create a further connection to the origins of the developed world. I will show you a few examples of how the Romans and Greeks built the Western world:

. Democracy – in Athens, citizens themselves voted on laws. A law passed if it won the majority of the votes. This introduced the idea of civic participation in politics through voting, which provided the fundamentals for Western democracy.

. Philosophy – Socrates asked the question: “Is the pious loved by the gods because it is pious, or is it pious because it is loved by the gods?⁶” In a nutshell, Socrates uses this question to show people that morality requires critical thinking. We must use our own reason to understand why something is just or fair, instead of blindly obeying political figures. This helped to create the idea that human rights belong to everyone no matter who is in charge of the country. Do you think that anyone in the modern world has given questions like these any thought? I believe that if more people were learning Latin and Ancient Greek, the number of people thinking about these beautiful questions would increase.

. Religion – with the Edict of Milan (313 AD), Emperor Constantine had ended the persecution against Christians within the Roman Empire. He then began giving wealth and power to the early Roman Catholic Church, thus helping to begin the spread of Roman Catholicism throughout the Western world. By learning Latin you directly connect yourself to the roots of the early Church, which helps you appreciate and strengthen your faith. If you want to learn more about traditional, Roman Catholic music, read my article on Why Gregorian Chants Remain the Purest Form of Catholic Worship Music. If you want to learn more about how the Reformation damaged the Latin liturgy in Europe, read my article on how The Reformation Was a Catastrophe.

Now I want to show you a quote from an article made by the University of Oxford. This article explains how learning Latin could change your life, and it contains excerpts from a book called Forward with Classics: Classical languages in schools and communities, which was written by Dr. Arlene Holmes-Henderson.

The Great Equaliser

The Classics are falsely associated with elitism and snobbery, because it is virtually only taught in private schools. About 49%⁸ of private schools offer Latin GCSE, while only 3%⁹ of state schools offer Latin GCSE. This stark contrast is what makes people think that the Classics are only learnt by snobbish, elitist, wealthy people, which naturally ruins their reputation. This can only be fixed by making Latin and Ancient Greek compulsory at GCSE, which will show students over time that the enormous benefits of these intellectual languages should be accessible to everyone, not just a small percentage of the population. Students will begin to recognise and love the advantages of learning the Classics (which were explained in the sections above).

The Teacher Shortage: A Problem or an Excuse?

The specific reason for why state schools offer less Classics at GCSE than private schools is because of a lack of qualified teachers in these subjects. Private schools can often afford to recruit specialist teachers, whereas state schools can’t due to lower funding. However, this is just an excuse for the lazy, uncritical pupils in schools nowadays. All they need is a textbook, a vocab list, the literature texts they are studying, and the internet (which they all have access to). With these resources, pupils can easily teach themselves Latin and Greek without a teacher. First of all, they need to look at the official OCR Qualifications Page to see what they need to study. They can then thoroughly read and understand the necessary grammar in the textbook. Use the official OCR Defined Vocabulary List (linked to in the section “What Classical Education Actually Means”) to study vocab. Pupils can test their translation skills with the Latin or Greek passages in the textbook, and they can mark their answers using AI online. To study the texts, there are many Youtube videos (such as this one on the Echo and Narcissus Latin text) that students can use to learn about them. Finally, they can go back to the OCR Qualifications Page to access official past papers for Latin and Ancient Greek.

With this simple method, being able to afford specialist Classics teachers will no longer be necessary to make these languages compulsory at GCSE across the country. In fact, not using teachers could actually help pupils become independent thinkers and understand the content more, because they are actually using their own brain instead of relying on someone else’s brain. However, the major benefits come from actually learning Latin and Ancient Greek (the benefits were explained in the earlier sections of the article).

Conclusion

I urge every single school across the country to expose pupils to the wonders of these ancient languages. Making the Classics compulsory at GCSE will be invaluable to this modernised world we live in. It will improve their English. It will give them a head start if they every decide to learn a Romance language. It will have numerous cognitive benefits. It will give them a deeper connection to the foundation of Western civilisation. The Classics will be viewed in a more positive light by state school pupils. Schools have to stop giving excuses about teacher shortages and force pupils to learn these beautiful languages themselves. I know this seems like an overly harsh change to the education system, but I promise you that it will drastically benefit society.

I hope you enjoyed this article. If you have any questions or thoughts on the article, let me know by leaving a comment below.

References

1. Dictionary.com. (2015). “What Percent Of English Words Are Derived From Latin?” Derivation of English words, Dictionary.com

2 and 3. Alice K. (1997). “Efficacy of Latin Studies in the Information Age” The benefits of studying Latin, Educational Psychology Interactive

4. Emma C. (2018). “Access European Languages Through Latin” Having a basic knowledge of Latin can help you learn European languages, Superprof

5. Diane S. (2020). “Why Study Latin?” Article on why you should study Latin using excerpts from a book by Nicola Gardini, CUNY Academic Commons

6. Wikipedia contributors. (2026). “Euthyphro dilemma” Wikipedia article about Socrates’ Euthyphro dilemma, Wikipedia

7. Bethany W. (2018). “How learning Latin could change your life” Oxford University article containing excerpts from Dr Holmes-Henderson’s book, University of Oxford Humanities Division

8 and 9. Department for Education. (2021). “Thousands more students to learn ancient and modern languages” £4 million new scheme to give opportunity for all to study Latin, GOV.UK