Why study Latin?

Are you one of those who wonders why we teach Latin at Regents Academy? Well, recently while an omnibus class was being taught in my room, I heard a student ask the teacher how collaborate and conspire are similar in meaning. Since I was in the room, I was asked about the roots of these words. I reminded the students that the col- and con- prefixes come from the Latin word cum- with, together with. All the students were very familiar with this Latin word. I told them that for conspire they did not know the other part which comes from spirare- to breathe. Therefore, conspire means to breathe together. Immediately a hand went up and a student said he recognized that the second part of collaborate comes from laborare- to work, therefore collaborate means work together. This is just one of the valuable tools Latin is giving our students.