How about we make sure students can speak and read English fluently? As re. Latin - as with all language study our current pedagogy is wrong where we have students studying grammar and vocabulary without context. We learn language as children via context and repetition not by studying grammar. That comes from learning language in context.
Our kids write well because they spent time translating from another language, French, German, Greek, and Latin. But Latin is most useful for translation exercises. It teaches you the structure of the English sentence like nothing else.
Translation also makes you think twice about your word choice and makes you learn distinctions in English. That contributes to fluency.
Reading is passive. Writing is active. Translation exercises promote active fluency. But, yeah, if you can’t read, first learn to read.
“How about we make sure students can speak and read English fluently?”
Very true. I’d say let the students decide whether they want to take Latin as an elective.
What’s wrong with people learning how to converse in Latin? Not everyone, but it sounds cool.
Food for thought: our Founding Fathers never had a formal course in English Grammar. Rather, they learned their English grammar through exercises in Latin translation. Their English turned out pretty good.