Posted on 02/20/2020 6:19:39 AM PST by C19fan
Oxford University has shocked classics students by proposing to drop two of the most important texts from its syllabus.
Virgil's Aeneid and Homer's Iliad may be made optional in an attempt to modernise the degree course, amid a drop in schools teaching Latin and Greek.
But undergraduates say the works are vital to understanding the subject. Jan Preiss, a second-year at New College and president of the Oxford Latinitas Project, has started a petition to keep the texts.
'Removing Homer and Virgil would be a terrible and fatal mistake,' he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Modernizing the Classics is a bit of an oxymoron.
And will their physics department reduce their calculus, set theory, and topology requirements in order to draw more students?
Of course, they will not.
And hopefully, Oxford will retain their reputation for excellence in the classics by simply telling students to either hack the program or go to a place with no standards.
Like Harvard.
My experience was not that the Iliad was hard, it was first learning to read Greek
Honors freshman in high school reading back in my day.
(I must sound ancient to the Millennials here!)
Pursuit of excellence? No... not anymore..
Western Civilization has utterly lost its way....
I often am left wondering if Western Europe has ever fully recovered from the utter decimation of its lineage wiped out during WWI... and WWII.. because it sure seems today that collectively it is a LOT dumber and softer than it was before.
If changes simplifying education keep trends like this going eventually students won’t even be able to read Homer Simpson.
Hyperbole: from Greek hyperbole "exaggeration, extravagance," literally "a throwing beyond," from hyper- "beyond" + bole "a throwing, a casting, the stroke of a missile, bolt, beam,"
To be replaced with what? Heather Has Two Mommies? Peyton Place? Harry Potter Series?...................
Yeah, we read those in HIGH SCHOOL!...................
There are a lot of people in college who don’t realize that nearly EVERY play, movie, or novel take their basic stories from these classics, other Greek tragedies, and the Bible.
I guess if they dont make you read these all of their “exciting” and new stories will seem very “bright” and better than anything ever written.
They are so tedious.
Audacity Of A Dope.
I rather enjoyed seeing BOJO recite a portion of the Iliad in Greek, complete with gestures and mannerism.
Not many heads of state could accomplish that today (though in 1900, probably most British politicians could)
Dumb s^^ts!
Instead of the Iliad they will be covering equally classic tales like “The DaVinci Code” and “50 Shades of Grey”
It’s all part of their revolution. I’m a millennial and my PUBLIC high school in a middle class community had Latin courses (that included selections from the Aeneid), western humanities courses, a special course that mixed American history with American music and art, etc. Spoke with a former teacher recently and it’s all been removed in favor of multicultural BS and they are now prohibited from grading students too harshly. Any effort at all, even a name on the paper, gets a minimum of 50%, and the administration comes down hard on them if they hand out final grades lower than a B, especially if “people of color” are involved.
There’s no a lot of schools in the world that offer doctorates in such subjects.
One is plenty.
But there needs to be one.
Dreams of My Father (Whoever he may be)........................
In my English class, mind you, but still!
“Modernizing” the curriculum (all levels all subjects) always involves NOT teaching something.
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