BY
PHILLIP HARRISON
, HEAD OF CLASSICS AT
MERCHANT TAYLORS’ SCHOOL
EDUCAT ION
8 4
S E P T E M B E R
2 0 1 4
B
ewilderment and amusement are common reactions when
parents and pupils are informed that Latin is compulsory for the
first three years at the school. There is often the same tone when
a parent informs me, a fewmonths into the academic year, that
his or her son is actually enjoying Latin. How and why, seems
to be the hint, is my son enjoying a dead language that is associated with
gowns, mortarboards, and dusty old books?
The world of beginners’ Latin therefore confounds expectations: for a start,
there are colour textbooks, which introduce the language along with accounts
of everyday life in Pompeii, and which challenge pupils to think not only
about the workings of the language, but also about the Roman world in which
it was spoken. Pupils follow stories set in a different area of the Roman Empire
each year, andmeet the language en route. And yes, many do continue to
enjoy it: at Merchant Taylors’, almost half the boys continue to GCSE, and
sixth formnumbers are strong. The study for GCSE and A level is focused on
literature, so pupils encounter Cicero,Virgil, andTacitus amongst others.
Classical study is not restricted to Latin. At Merchant Taylors’ we are
fortunate to have an exceptionally large department and pupils can choose
to study Classical Greek as early as year 9: this stimulates and stretches
bright boys and allows them access to the canon of Greek epic and tragedy.
Greek inevitably has always been a minority subject, yet it survives, and the
question is begged: why do schools continue to offer a subject such as Greek,
when the numbers can be very small?
Several factors need to be borne inmind when answering this question. It
is a fact that schools such as Merchant Taylors’ – in fact any school founded
during or before the 16th century – were founded with the express intention
of teaching Latin and Greek, since the cultures of Greece and Rome were
seen as the foundation ofWestern culture. It is difficult even nowadays
to argue against the unparalleled significance of Greece and Rome in the
formation ofWestern literature, philosophy, and political structures, and so
the exploration of these cultures remains entirely. Furthermore, the subjects
offer very clear intellectual rigour and stimulation: aside frommastering the
languages, which work very differently fromEnglish, pupils are challenged
to analyse with logical rigour and become familiar with some of the greatest
poetry and historical writing of all time.
In these ways, the study of the Classical world equips pupils with not
only intellectual knowledge but also intellectual skills that will prove
beneficial to later life.When studying a text, they are urged to analyse
every word, to seek flaws in an argument, to look at detail while
remaining aware of the bigger picture. For these reasons, Classicists –
and this surprises many parents – are much valued in a wide range of
careers, where their intellectual skills are allowed to flourish. At this point
in conversation, I am forced to admit that whereas I may be using both
the knowledge and skills learned from Classics in the course of my own
job, there are plenty of Classicists who deploy their skills in the Square
Mile, and the worlds of Law, journalism, and so on. For some graduates,
such as our Old Boy novelist Conn Iggulden, they provide a rich vein
for contemporary fiction. All this gives the lie to specious, facile notions
of ‘relevance’: young minds are endlessly fertile and subjects that may
superficially appear ‘old hat’ may, in fact, prove to be inspirational to
the keenest of intelligences. Above all, in a world dominated by the
superficialities of League Tables and ‘attainment objectives’ they come to
realise that the intellectual value of the Socratic tradition lies not only in
the interrogation of concepts, but also in acquiring the most important
knowledge of all: self-knowledge.
What then is the condition of Classics in schools today? Mary Beard and
Boris Johnson promote the subject with vigour in the media, while Michael
Gove has made clear his desire for Classics to be taught more widely in
state schools – of which very few now have the resources to support large
Classics departments – and has set about training non-Classicists to teach
Latin at beginners’ level. This is obviously welcome news for any Classicist
who is eager that the subject should be widely accessible and enjoyed.
However, real challenges lie beyond the soundbites.What seems to be
suggested is a curriculumwhere Classics is a desirable extra, rather than
a vital part of the curriculum for all pupils, as it has been at a school such
as Merchant Taylors’ for almost five hundred years. The programme that is
being launched to train non-specialists to teach Latin is admirable, but it is
surely uncontroversial to claim that for a subject to flourish, a school needs
teachers who are expert in the field, and who can bring the enthusiasm
and learning of many years of study into lessons. This certainly is the case
in schools where the central importance of Classics to a school syllabus is
recognized and celebrated.
Thecentralityof Classics
