“How Green were the Greeks, How Radical the Romans”
A year-long initiative for students in the Wahconah Regional High School Latin Program
For 2009-2010
Throughout the history of American public and private education, Classical Studies (Latin and Greek) have played a preeminent role in shaping the language and culture of what we have deemed useful and important to teach young people. The traditional argument has been that knowledge of these languages, together with their rich cultures and history as well as their profound impact on this nation’s own heritage, would give students greater language skills, and a broad understanding of the origins of Western Civilization. Clearly these arguments have their merit, but as we move through the twenty-first century, with its emphasis on the here and now, its preference for teaching students some of the more exotic languages and an emphasis on all things technological, teachers of classical studies will find themselves under pressure to marry the practical value of studying ancient texts to demands of a global village that has little interest in “living in the past.” All the while they must not risk “dumbing down” what they teach. To that end, students in the Wahconah Regional High School Latin program will embark on a year-long initiative during the 2009-2010 school year which will serve to not only increase their understanding of ancient Latin and some Greek, but also to give them the exciting opportunity to create a groundbreaking curricular approach whose culmination may be shared with other classics programs throughout the United States. All the while, they will be able to do this in concert with the traditional goals of the Wahconah Regional High School Latin program.
The first such initiative in 2009-2010 will focus on what ideas students may derive from the ancient Greeks and Romans that will prompt them to delve deeply into the current concern we share as humans about the health and well-being of this planet which at one time the Greeks called Demeter, and the Romans, Ceres. They will, through their own eyes, look into a very different time on the planet that nevertheless continues to send us scores of messages today as we ponder such grave issues as climate change, global warming, overpopulation, increasing poverty, and ever-deadlier warfare. This brief overview of the project you are reading will not detail all of the historical, literary, artistic and philosophical possibilities students will be exploring but suffice it to say they will have an unlimited supply of them at hand. During the summer of 2009 another document will be disseminated to you outlining a myriad of these resources.
For purposes of organization, it will be best to assign each level of the Latin program a specific aspect of the project. Students in the program are already privy to this, and have had some input about the proposed arrangement. Participation will be arranged according to the following order.
Latin I—Students will document unlimited examples in the mythology of the ancients that will support the idea of Earth being a “living” planet.
Latin II—Students will document all of the language that has come from the ancients found in the modern vocabulary and phraseology of “going green”.
Latin III—Students will peruse Latin and Greek literature (excepting mythology) in both the original and in translation that will give them a treasure trove of ideas about how we should/must approach planetary survival.
Latin IV Honors—Students will be responsible for much of the research and for all of the communication with the political, scientific and humanitarian communities well beyond the Central Berkshire Regional School District.
The desired end result of all the students’ efforts will be a publication, whether a pamphlet or small book, outlining their findings in a way conducive to practical use by other schools and students. Students will contribute their own art work and musical talents, as well as make use of their considerable writing talent, perhaps in the form of their own “planet myth” for the twenty-first century. The possibilities are unlimited. It is important to note also, that students will not be asked to unite themselves with any particular point of view about the present condition of planet earth. Although they may draw conclusions from their efforts, the goal is to inspire thinking outside the box, not to proselytize them into thinking one specific way.
There is not a single academic department at Wahconah Regional High School that will not be represented in this initiative. Although some might argue such a goal is lofty and a stretch, we will counter that everything the Greeks and Romans were doing two and three thousand years ago (eating, setting up business, staging the Olympics, writing epic poems in the oral tradition, fighting bad economies, building better ways to travel or deliver water to cities, coping with conflicting religions and immigration, and the list goes on) we are doing today, for better or for worse. Let the kids revel in answering the latter question!
The cost to the district for the initiative will be zero dollars. If there are any expenses beyond the regular funding of the Latin program, they will be minimal, and will possibly be funded by grant money.
We are not talking here about some elitist program for ten or fifteen kids. Although at this time we do not have solid numbers for next year’s Latin enrolment, it has not fallen below 100 students annually for more than 20 years. The initiative will offer something to every student, regardless of her or his class or standing in that class. That is what makes it so exciting.
The initiative has the preliminary approval of James Conro, Principal of Wahconah Regional High School.
