LEARNING TO LEARN
I planned the lesson based on the principles outlined in the research of Steven Hunt( 2016) who interviewed practitioners with experience in teaching sensitive subjects in the secondary classics classroom, most notably: teacher display of positive and comfortable disposition to the discussion, an unconstrained time period, clear rationale for discussion’ s educational outcomes, and student agency in leading discussion.
The entry point I chose was laconophilia, or the admiration of Spartan culture. After an activity that established what we‘ know’ about ancient Sparta, and how we know it, the students’ main responsibility was to analyse a source which demonstrates a reception of Spartan culture or ideology. Each student then presented to their classmates about the effects of this appropriation. By studying various modern interpretations and usages of Spartan themes, symbols, and ideologies, students questioned how history is mythologised, misinterpreted and weaponised.
I aimed to engender constructive reflection on how Classics is integrated into modern events with which they were already familiar. One student was tasked with an excerpt from Mein Kampf in which Hitler references an epitaph honouring German soldiers killed at Flanders, paired with Herodotus’ account of a nearly identical epitaph in Thermopylae which honoured the Spartans who fell against the Persians. Easterling( 2002) suggests that reception work encourages students to view literature as a mutable part of a canon open to reinvention. Another student was presented with photographs from the January 6, 2021 attacks on the US Capitol in which protestors were waving flags brandishing the Greek phrase‘ Molon Labe’( or‘ come and get them’), which Plutarch alleged was uttered by the Spartans after the Persians called on them to drop their weapons at Thermopylae. The other sources touched on the French Revolution, the Greek migrant crisis of the last decade, and a philosophical treatise of Machiavelli on the ideal state. I intentionally chose a range of mild and more pernicious appropriations of the ancient world in order to avoid a sense of personal agenda in the lesson.
I was impressed with the fluency and willingness in which students were able to identify the enduring fetishisation of ancient Sparta, and how they articulated its damaging effects. Most notable was their shock at how the Classical world was embedded into recent events in unexpected ways. While this lesson was well-received, Strolonga( 2014) encourages instructors to remember that we cannot predict the emotional responses of students as we are biassed by our exposure to the subject.
Sculptural remnants around the amphitheatre, Puteoli
Follow up work could have included student reflection on their knowledge of negative Classical reception prior to this lesson, and how their understanding of the discipline has changed. Additionally, there is scope for students to investigate their own interests in reception as part of a larger liberal arts curriculum( McCoskey, 1999).
Conclusions
On the surface, this seems a wildly imperfect approach in that it was off-timetable to self-selecting students and was super-curricular to the IB Classical Languages syllabus. However, given the sensitive and critical reflection that this lesson encouraged( skills which are aims of the IB Diploma!), I am inclined towards a Classical education which incorporates reception work as a module so that such conversations do not have to occur in such extra-educational windows. Perhaps there is scope within the Theory of Knowledge component of the IB for students to study the transmission and reception of one of their six subjects. Ultimately, this experience reaffirmed the educational and social advantages of students viewing their interests and passions with a discerning eye, and I intend to investigate how to continue holding these conversations across all years groups at the school.
13