If I Were Teacher... by Jean

If I Were Teacher... by Jean - October 2016 Scholarship Essay

If the roles were reversed, what subject would I teach? Hmmmm…well, I love biology, maybe I would teach that. Or maybe I would teach English, the subject of expression. No, no, that would not do. No, if I could teach any subject, I would teach Latin.
Why Latin? Well, that is indeed a great question. First of all, considering solely the subject, not the reasons concerning reversed roles, Latin is a “dead” language rich with an ancient history and culture. It was the language of the Romans, once conquerors of many lands, beholders of a vast empire, worshippers of Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, and Apollo, wearers of togas and stolas. Who wouldn’t want to teach that? Well, I definitely would. Not only are the culture, history, and mythology of the Romans fascinating but their language is as well. With 5 declensions, 6 cases, and 96 noun endings, as well as 106 verb endings, Latin is like a puzzle, having to determine where each word is supposed to be placed and what their proper endings are. And it is quite puzzling as to how the Romans spoke the language fluently without having to stop after every word to think of the proper endings. Another great reason to teach Latin is to introduce students to the philosophy of great scholars, such as Lucretius and Seneca, which may cause them to start thinking differently and outside of conventional thought.
Now, as it pertains to reversed roles, I would want to teach Latin over Biology and English for a variety of reasons. I would not do as some students and do whatever I could as teacher to cause my former-teacher-turned-student mental pain by assigning loads of difficult work. No, that would only bring short lived satisfaction, in which would soon turn into regret as the roles are reverted to their rightful place. Indeed I would do the exact opposite of what most students would do. I would demonstrate my knowledge I acquired via “teaching” my new student. I would stealthily suggest new teaching methods through my approach to teaching. Indeed, I would try my best to use my temporarily new role to gain the teacher’s approval, and possibly cause a change in the teaching system, benefitting the entire class.
Latin would be the subject I would want to teach if the roles were reversed. I would not teach it to exact revenge, which, mind you, would not last long, but I would teach it for the wealth of knowledge that is found in the Roman language, culture, history, mythology, and philosophy. The possibility of influencing the real teacher to implement my teaching method would also be a nice perk to teaching Latin over other subjects.
Did I mention that teaching Latin would also mean having access to all of the Latin Club materials, including Roman armor, shields, swords, javelins, togas, the trebuchet, and chariot? I didn’t? Oh, well, that would be another reason why I would want to teach Latin. Every Friday would be Roman Culture Day, where everyone could dress like Romans, eat Roman food, fight like gladiators, ride the chariot, and shoot tennis balls from the trebuchet down the hallway. Yes, I would definitely want to teach Latin over any other subject. Vini, vidi, vici, right?