From OCramer@ColoradoCollege.edu Sun Sep 9 06:02:49 2001 Received: from mxu103.u.washington.edu (mxu103.u.washington.edu [140.142.33.14]) by lists.u.washington.edu (8.11.2+UW01.01/8.11.2+UW01.04) with ESMTP id f89D2m087826 for ; Sun, 9 Sep 2001 06:02:49 -0700 Received: from mxu3.u.washington.edu (mxu3.u.washington.edu [140.142.33.7]) by mxu103.u.washington.edu (8.11.6+UW01.08/8.11.6+UW01.08) with SMTP id f89D2mv28363 for ; Sun, 9 Sep 2001 06:02:48 -0700 Received: FROM exchange2.ColoradoCollege.edu BY mxu3.u.washington.edu ; Sun Sep 09 06:02:47 2001 -0700 Received: by exchange2.ColoradoCollege.edu with Internet Mail Service (5.5.2650.21) id ; Sun, 9 Sep 2001 07:02:45 -0600 Message-ID: <5E5B5397B92DA849874262D1AF191C2C02489A63@exchange2.ColoradoCollege.edu> From: Owen Cramer To: "'classics@u.washington.edu'" Subject: RE: a secondary teacher's reply to CMS Date: Sun, 9 Sep 2001 07:02:44 -0600 MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2650.21) Content-Type: text/plain Thanks to Elizabeth and Peter for eloquent rejoinders. Peter is no more an admirer of the Committee of 10 or a regretter of the Cardinal Principles than I: my point about that period (1893 and 1917) was that it was *a long time ago*, that West's big conference on _The Value of the Classics_ (which turns out to have been in the same 1917, not later) was already a defensive move. We're the heirs to a tradition that's been on the run for generations, so that the failure of our leadership to market us adequately in the recent past is practically beside the point. Of course we all work with one student at a time and many of us have the experience of their later enthusiastic reports of our influence--but it's still fewer than 2% of the high school population and a similar small part of the university crowd. I've just come off of CAMWS's Committee for the Promotion of Latin, where a lot of small concrete promotional steps are made, but I'm still looking for the campaign--marketing--that will connect us up right with the *future* in education. Owen Cramer Classics/Comp. Lit. Colorado College 14 E. Cache La Poudre Colorado Springs, CO 80903 719/389-6443, fax 719/389-6179 OCramer@ColoradoCollege.edu > -----Original Message----- > From: Elizabeth Vandiver [SMTP:ev23@umail.umd.edu] > Sent: Sunday, September 09, 2001 6:32 AM > To: classics@u.washington.edu > Subject: Re: a secondary teacher's reply to CMS > > > 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 > .