“It was Greek to me,” responded Casca in Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar” when Brutus and Cassius asked him, “Did Cicero say anything?”
Anyone steeped in the Classical tradition of education might respond the same when asked if Barack Obama said “anything” after listening to any one of his speeches on the campaign trail.
Anyone might respond the same if asked whether New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman said “anything” yesterday in his op-ed piece, “Who Will Tell the People.”
Granted, Friedman trashed America and applauded Singapore; he commended Harvard University’s president Drew Faust and criticized Hillary Clinton. Then he admitted that he didn’t know if Obama could lead but declared that Obama’s idealism and ability to inspire is “not trivial.”
In Shakespeare’s play, after Casca speaks and departs from the company of Brutus and Cassius, the former points out, “He was quick metal when he went to school.” The latter responds, “…However he puts on this tardy form, this rudeness is a sauce to his good wit which gives men stomach to digest his words with better appetite.”
And as for a traditional Classical education, this country should be hungry for more rather than less when it comes to designing and supporting curriculum and appropriating tax dollars for teachers, courses, and books that make it available for our nation’s young who in time may become our future leaders.
The need for our schools to require students to spend time with Classical literature has never been greater, which explains why “Dedham High driving for the ‘Classic Edge,’” by Anna Kivlan, which appeared on page one of this paper Monday, caught my interest.
The article spotlights the need for more funding for the English Department which is struggling to buy replacement copies of classic books while also providing adequate funding for the high school newspaper, “The Dedham Mirror.”
For those that fail to recognize the need, recall please, “There is a little Greek in all of us.” To reject the Classical tradition and deny students the right to read and learn from Classical literature is to reject our cultural heritage and ourselves.
We cannot afford to allow the legacy that Greece left Western Culture to wither and pass away. We cannot afford to allow the Roman and Christian tradition to disappear from view. Great works like the “Iliad” and “The Odyssey” must be taught because they teach the values that served as a foundation for our culture throughout the years.
Consider the lessons learned from reading these works: how to live and die honorably; how to be loyal to God, country, and family; how to value and not violate justice; and how to distinguish between right and wrong, and how to recognize that our lives are measured not on the basis of what happens to us but on the basis of what we individually do.
Other great works like “Antigone,” “Oedipus Rex,” the Arthurian legends, “Julius Caesar,” and “Hamlet” too should be funded at all costs if we wish to prepare youngsters to confront themselves, their history, and more.
As for funding the high school paper, considering that just last Friday one of my former DHS students Barbara Findlen, currently managing editor of “Family Fun Magazine,” joined me and presented a workshop at the New England Scholastic Press Association’s 60th Annual Conference held at Boston University because we recognize that often it is in high school where a commitment to the press begins, seems to reflect the importance of a high school newspaper and journalism program.
In the meantime, while School Committee member Margaret Matthews and English Department Chair John LaFlamme should be commended for starting a fundraising program to buy valuable texts, their actions alone are not enough to show Dedham students that the Dedham School System values them and the lessons they can learn from reading the Classics.
Westwood resident Carol Ziemian teaches writing at Northeastern University. Her column appears in the Daily News Transcript on Wednesday. She can be reached at YankeePenn@aol.com.
