From ev23@umail.umd.edu Sun Sep  9 05:29:44 2001
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Date: Sun, 09 Sep 2001 08:32:07 -0400
From: Elizabeth Vandiver <ev23@umail.umd.edu>
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To: classics@u.washington.edu
Subject: Re: a secondary teacher's reply to CMS
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Llcohee@aol.com wrote:

>
> As I tell my teaching colleagues, our task is to teach the Classics in such a
> way that our present students, 20 or 25 years hence, will strongly urge their
> own children to take Latin or Greek in school because it was the richest,
> most meaningful subject they ever learned, a relief from the grim
> utilitarianism that otherwise prevails, the subject that still helps them
> make sense of their lives.

This is beautifully put. Thank you. It also perfectly reflects my own experience
from 8th and 9th grade (1969-1971)  My Latin teacher, Geraldine Hodges, lit a fire
in me that never went out, even though I was in my late 20s before I yielded to
its lure, learned Greek, relearned Latin, and went to grad school.

> That, and because they remember their Latin
> teacher/s with admiration and fondness as skillful, wise, and passionate
> human beings in whom they could see living evidence of the worth of the
> Classics.

And this is a goal that is both exhilariting and terrifying--and also essential.
Again, thank you, Peter.

EV


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