Posted on 06/08/2022 9:47:12 PM PDT by ChipMarne
Amid ongoing controversy over whether education in the classics should be eliminated or reformed to exclude works deemed too Western or white, a black professor affirmed that the classics are for everyone.
University of Virginia sociology Professor Angel Parham said the study of Greco-Roman culture still has “much to teach us.” The classics should be “elevated and broadened,” not repudiated, she wrote in a May 20 op-ed for The Wall Street Journal.
“The study of Greek and Latin literature and history has a proven record of lifting the performance of students, especially the disadvantaged.”
“…It is ironic that critics deem classics racially exclusive when black people fought so hard after the Civil War for the right to a classical education.”
“And now black students are being told yet again a classical education isn’t for them,” she stated.
The classics department at Princeton University last year removed Greek and Latin as a requirement for its major, stating on its website that the “history of our own department bears witness to the place of Classics in the long arc of systemic racism.”
The College Fix reached out to Parham to learn more about her own educational journey and how she first became interested in the classics, but she responded stating she was not able to comment and referred The Fix to an interview with the Daily Stoic.
“I entered the world of classics through the back door,” she said, referring to the time when she began to read literature to her own daughter while homeschooling her.
(Excerpt) Read more at thecollegefix.com ...
Wow! That’s a rare find, a black female sociology professor who questions the received orthodoxy, learns more when she homeschools her own child, learning great things and developing her worldview based on her broadened studies of great works. On top of that, she is open about it (despite her not being able to comment on the question) and continues to teach.
Classical lit was one of the prerequisites when I was at Stanford for Business and Pre-Law students. Until now, I still have no clue what was the relation between the Iliad and Financial Analysis.
Rare find or not. Who cares? She is right. God bless her for grasping that those who went before us have something to say to us: Good, Bad, and Ugly. One can learn from all three.
The ‘classics’ are like ‘old sayings’. Maybe there’s a reason they got to be ‘old sayings’. Just sayin’.
The “disadvantaged” frequently create their own disadvantages.
We need millions more like her!
The destruction of democracy and western culture is the core craving of Democrat scum.
I remember little of the Latin, and even less of the Greek they made me take at school - but the lessons that came with the language have stood me in good stead all my life.
The first draft of each of the classics referred to in this article would have been written in cursive. That alone would make them racist to a professional victim.
“Parham founded Nyansa Classical Community in New Orleans”
And here’s the curriculum there:
https://nyansaclassicalcommunity.org/day-in-the-life/
The day begins with prayer, followed by literature, Bible, and Latin studies.
Love it!
God bless strong and intellectual people like this professor.
I am in favor of expanding our horizons and have read many of the great books written by European authors of the ancient past.
So, can anyone recommend some great Books written by BLACK AUTHORS from 3000 years ago till 300 years ago?
The main takeaway I get from reading all ancient literature is that while technology has advanced, basic human nature does not advance in the absence of the Savior.
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