Did you or your wife plan on med school when you were in 9th grade?
As per @anonymous26 German was a popular language among students headed to medical school in my time. It traces all the way back to the turn of the century (the previous one) when the study of medicine was quite a bit more advanced in Europe than in the US. More recently, it confers no advantage and if you struggle with Latin roots and terminology, Medicine isn’t a good match for you anyway.
“She’d wanted to take an advanced 3rd year Spanish class next year, but apparently a friend of hers had told her how helpful Latin was in helping people through med school (She plans on entering the medical field”
- I cannot assess the use of Latin in relation to Medical School. However, as my D. just graduated from the Medical School, I can only stress one more time (as I did multiple times prior to this discussion), that her Spanish has helped her to take advantage of opportunities at Medical School that were NOT opened to others who did not have Spanish. First, to state background, D. placed into 3rd year college Spanish. Her college required foreign language placement test score before she could register for her freshman year fall semester. The 3rd year one semester Spanish college class was the only college Spanish that D. took. She was able to speak after this class and later on was able to place into Intermediate Medical Spanish (while at Medical School, outside of school). That allowed her to be selected for the sought after trip to Peru with the group of MDs and other medical students. She had great opportunities there to get involved with different aspects of medical care and translate to MDs. Also, during few rotations, she was required to use her Spanish when patients did not speak English. Actually she was able to use her other Foreign language at least ones. Results - positive comments in her Evals, listed Spanish in her residency application.
D. did not have Latin, she never mentioned the need, but I do not know any more than that.
“if you struggle with Latin roots and terminology, Medicine isn’t a good match for you anyway”.
You can struggle all you want with Latin roots you want but it doesn’t mean Medicine isn’t a good match for you. It’s more of a memorization thing than an etymology thing. In preclinical years you learn immediately that when profs begin using words like pulmonary, nephrology, hepatic, medulla oblongata, etc, you’ll know what’s being talked about. Although prof might reference etymology in lecture, it’s more a matter of getting up to speed and becoming comfortable using such words on a regular basis that they become ingrained into your way of speaking/thinking than where words are derived from… You can do fine in medicine without knowing Latin roots.
I did think I would be going to medical school when I was in HS. Latin was my dad’s idea.
My wife had no idea she would become a physician back in HS.