Opportunities, Questions, and Conundrums of Teaching Classical Culture and Literature in Gymnasia

Abstract

Classical culture and literature classes offer the students knowledge and insight, as well as wonder, self-reflection, self-criticism, and tolerance. The process is never complete, as has been true of self-exploration since antiquity; as Cavafy might say, sometimes it is the journey that matters. After graduating, students have a long way to mature in the ars vivendi, teachers’ efforts do not always bear immediate fruit, and their words may occasionally fall on deaf ears. It is essential not to create a fictitious gulf between the classroom and life; after all, they are learning about life, even while deciphering the linguistic riddles of Latin or Greek sentences. Teaching classical languages has proved its educational value over the generations. New times call for fresh teaching approaches, but not necessarily new content since humans are seeking answers to the same fundamental questions of existence as they did in antiquity.