I look back on my time at school with mixed emotions. There were very few subjects that brought me any form of happiness and by the time I had finished Year 11, most of the Science and Maths based subjects had a black mark next to their name (much to the despair of my biologist mother). I saw no purpose in staying at school and was desperate to leave. Family pressure and expectation meant that leaving school was never going to be an option for me - as my mother frequently said, my choices were University or ‘check-out chick’. So, I tailored my course to get me through one more year, knowing that it would be my last at school - I couldn’t stomach the thought of Year 13. I picked from all of the humanities subjects: English, Social Studies, History and Classics. Signing up for two Scholarship exams meant I was also entitled to two study lines (not sure how I got away with that one. Perks of being a teacher’s daughter perhaps?) Classics was the wild card. I walked into the class having no idea what to expect but knew that if it was based around ancient societies, then it had to be up my alley. I had no idea how much this subject would change my life. Halfway through the year, I declared to my parents that I would be going to University to study Classics. (Conveniently, they had both decided to leave Auckland and move to Blenheim the following year, so were quite relieved to have me leave home.) While my mum just wanted me to be happy, my dad’s only response was: “What a waste of money!” For him, university was about studying something that would give you a career. Classics had no prospects, especially in a country like New Zealand. Luckily for me, I had a rebellious streak and I didn’t care what my dad thought. I was successful at gaining discretionary entrance into the University of Otago to start a BA. I left my hometown and moved to Dunedin knowing no one, blissfully ignorant, wearing my rose-tinted glasses, not fully prepared for the consequences of the choice I had made. Five years later, after living overseas, teaching in South Korea and working as a wine rep in Canada, I brought my Canadian other-half back with me so I could do my GradDip in Teaching and make a career out of Classics. And now I’m here. The thing with Classics is - outside of teaching - there are very few real career pathways. My dad was right. But, I keep having to ask myself, are we really living in a world where we shut ourselves off from learning because there are no dollar bills glittering at the end of the road? Could it be possible that what we get out of a Classics degree is equally as valuable as a Business degree? At the beginning of the year, I talk to my students about what value Classics will have in their life - whether they continue with it after school or not. It’s more about the type of person Classics will help them to become, rather than the transferable skills they might be able to write on a CV. It’s a message that I want the staff to know as well. In studying Classics, students are forced to look at ancient societies who had a vastly different culture than our own. The main reason for this is the religious ideologies that underpin their society. Conversations about sexuality, incest, torture, slavery and racism are common in my classroom and students are constantly being challenged to recognise their own bias when thinking about these topics. Having a student consider why they can’t apply modern definitions and categories of sexuality to the Greek way of life is confronting for them. But in doing this, they also learn to do the same thing when looking at cultural practises that may take place in our modern day society. Beastiality is illegal in New Zealand and the thought of it often brings about feelings of disgust and repulsion - yet, in The Netherlands, it’s legal and the attitudes are more liberal. Encouraging them to identify their bias, and the reasons for it, allows them to be more empathetic to the members of our global community. Not only does Classics encourage students to take a more empathetic approach to their global neighbours, but it also encourages compassion for different generations. Our students have never lived in a country where homosexuality is illegal, yet for their grandparents, or great-grandparents, it was considered a crime punishable by a term of imprisonment. Classics examines societal change. By studying the introduction of Christianity to Rome, students can see how social attitudes change. I believe the understanding of how society shapes a person has a huge impact on our students’ ability to interact with others. If they can look at how their society has shaped their own identity and perspective, then Classics has been an incredibly valuable contribution to their life. Classics may not have a career pathway, grow our economy or push human civilization beyond its current technological limits, but it does have value. Removing barriers put up by ignorance and fear of other religions and cultures is vital in our global community. So what’s my point? We need to see ALL subjects as having equal worth and value - even those that may seem, on the outside, that they have no relevance to modern ways of living or earning. I’ve even managed to convince my dad of that. ~Jenny Seward
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June 2019
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