Non Scholae Sed Vitae

BMR recenserar Classics Teaching in Europe, en sammanställning av rapporter från Euroclassica:

"When Euroclassica was founded in 1991 as a federation of classical
teachers' organizations in Europe it hoped to be a lobby group for the
promotion of Classics in Brussels. In practice it has functioned as a
forum where classical teachers meet and encourage each other. Its
annual conferences bring together colleagues from both inside and
outside the European Union."
...
"In central and eastern Europe the communist uniform school system did not give much
room for bourgeois and elitist topics like Latin and Greek. I was told
in Russia that Lenin's wife Krupskaya, who was very influential in the
last ailing years of her husband, had bad memories of her classical
teachers and took revenge by removing Latin and Greek from the school
curriculum. After the miracle of the velvet revolution of the year 1989
there was a return to the old values including the classical tradition.
Universities reestablished their classical departments, ambitious heads
of secondary schools used Latin (but hardly ever Greek) as a mark of
distinction and even some classical gymnasia were founded. However,
after a few years the impact of modern business culture made itself
felt. Parents and students began to doubt the 'utility' of the
Classics. As most classical teachers can only get a part-time tenure
the position of the Classics is marginal in schools."
...
"In fact the most interesting part is the introduction by the editor.
There John Bulwer, a member of the Euroclassica committee from 1995 to
2003, draws some general lines and expresses a few challenging ideas.
Rightly he distinguishes various justifications in various countries.
For some Classics is an essentially European subject tying the European
family of nations together. For others it is a subject that inculcates
civilized values for well-educated citizens. For a few countries
without a strong classical tradition, especially the Scandinavian
countries, it is a subject that fascinates by being exotic. [WTF?] And finally in countries with a Catholic history Latin may be linked to the Church, which can be a blessing as well as a serious political risk.