NEW York Times

METROPOLITAN DESK
ON EDUCATION;

At a Bronx School, Latin Is the Root Of All Learning
By JOSEPH BERGER

At the Bronx Latin School, one of New York's multiplying number of small themed public middle and high schools, Latin is what Alfred Hitchcock used to call the MacGuffin: a plot device that grabs our attention while the story has a larger purpose.

The school's larger purpose is simple: to get students, most of them ''struggling with literacy,'' as the founding principal, Leticia Pineiro, said, to read and also do math at grade level or better.