Tibullus's Full Review: Victor Davis Hanson and John Heath - Who Killed Ho...
In this book the authors (Heath and Hanson), who both happen to be professors of classical philology, outline what they think is not only wrong with the way that modern classical education is taught, and what changes should be brought around to provide for the survival of classical studies as we know it. They, like so many others, are afraid that Latin and Greek will go completely the way of Sanskrit and other ancient languages which eventually faded into nigh obscurity.
They first outline the state of classical education, showing facts and figures stating the already obvious, that the state of classical education is horrid, that the amount of people who are still involved is declining rapidly and that there seems to be no stopping the fact that nobody cares about the classics anymore. I must admit that they have some very convincing number in there, but this again is something that anyone who pays attention at all is able to see.
The authors then go through and outline what is wrong with classical education today. Following a timeline of what they think happened to bring classics to its deathbed today. The point that they harp upon the most is that the classics professors and students of today no longer hold reverence to the Greeks, they no longer hold Greek ideals. Rather, they follow the cannon of other pedogical cannons and thus Greek and Latin are pushed by the wayside. This combined with the fact that the teachers of these languages themselves have abandoned the new students (in favor of long research papers and seminars, etc) leave classics with people pulling students away and the professors pushing them away.
Finally, the authors present a solution to the problem. This is a solution that they do not think will actually happen (I believe they actually state it in the book), but they do outline the steps that need to be taken in order for the classics to survive as we know them today (which is not even how they knew them a few years back).
This book is a very interesting look into the world of classics, how it is taught, how it once was taught, and the path that it has followed to get where it is. It is also interesting to see a reactionary criticism of the path that modern academics has followed (they berate that), and the path the modern high school academics has followed (they berate that as well). Basically, these two authors sit and whine for 300 pages about how the world has stepped away from what they cherish and has "got itself in a big hurry." They offer some constructive reasons as to why classics should be taught, and I must admit that they are all reasons for which I took the classics myself (being a Latin, Computer Science and History major), besides the fact that i just enjoyed them.
The book is a very interesting read, it caused a good deal of controversy, as it attacked the way the entire field of classical studies operates right now (which I for one don't totally agree with), so naturally there was a large outcry from the classics population that this book was heresy. However, I do recognize that they do basically speak the truth, though I don't see the problem going away.
At least since the Renaissance, familiarity with the literature, art, philosophy, and moral values of the Classical World has been synonymous with edu...More at Christianbook.com
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