Primary Times Oxfordshire Winter 2017

EDUCATION
An ancient
Mediterranean diet
Nowadays the Mediterranean
diet often makes the news
and it’s widely accepted that
eating all those good fats from
olives and oily fish boost your brain
big-time.
But guess what?
The Mediterranean diet has
always been good for us – except
that I’m not talking about feta
cheese and salad in the sunshine
here. I’m talking about the
Classics, those much older gifts
from Greece and Italy that have
always built better cognitive health
and are guaranteed to boost
children for life.
Of course, primary school children
already have a taste of these: the
opportunity to learn about Ancient
Greece and Rome, discovering
how the Greeks gave us
democracy, the Olympics,
breathtaking architecture, drama
and the Iliad, whilst the Romans
thumped their sandals all over the
globe, sharing brick houses, roads,
central heating, sanitation,
irrigation, writing and Christianity.
But, to paraphrase Monty Python’s
question, “What have the Romans
(and Greeks) ever done for us?”
Those ancient civilisations are far
more than a tick list of what they
left behind.
Classics comprise learning Latin
and Ancient Greek, studying
ancient civilisations and ancient
history. All of these can be
accessed at primary and
secondary school level. Better still
with the growth of organisations
such as Classics For All, there is
funding available and access to
teaching skills and subject
frameworks too.
But schools are overstretched
already, aren’t they, so why should
yours consider Classics? And
besides, isn’t it all a bit snooty,
the hallmark of an elite education?
In a word: no. You see, Latin is
now taught in more state schools
than private ones. And it, together
with Classics’ other doctrines, can
set children up as thinkers and
doers for life.
Latin forms the bedrock of much of
the English language, and when
studied as a foreign language it
opens the door to a masterful
command of grammar and an
enviable fluency of written and
spoken language. Ancient Greek is
intrinsic in our language too, and to
anyone who says otherwise, I
would simply say,
“Hippopotamus*”! Studying ancient
civilisations and history builds
children’s critical thinking, their
ability to build an argument, their
lateral and logical thinking. But
infusing all those good things, like
beautifully mixed oil and vinegar
dressing drizzled over salad, is
something even tastier: the
Classics nurture imagination like no
other discipline.
“Imagination”, said Lewis Carroll
(who, incidentally, had a degree in
Classics) “is the only weapon in the
war against reality”. Whilst Albert
Einstein (who didn’t) concluded,
“Imagination is more important
than knowledge. Knowledge is
limited. Imagination encircles the
world.” And, let’s face it, in an era
where our recent reality has sprung
some truly appalling surprises,
imagination has never been more
important: the imagination to come
up with new solutions, the
imagination to persuade people
that there are better ways to live
and, most humanely, the
imagination to wonder what it’s like
to actually be someone else.
Empathy flourishes when children
consider what life as an Ancient
Greek slave must have been like.
Or a Roman emperor, plotted
against by his friends. What did a
ten-year old Spartan boy think
about his lot as a soldier? Or an
Ancient Briton whose town was
invaded by the Roman army?
Being immersed in different ways
of lives and unfamiliar values
develops an empathy that last a
lifetime. And I, for one, can’t think
of anything more important for
youngsters, whether in an
educational context or out of it.
Through their ideas, military
conquests and societies, the
Greeks and Romans established
the framework of the Western
world, from the governments that
rule it today to the coins that are
spent each day in our shops. But it
is through their stories, thinking
and thinkers that they informed our
understanding of what it means to
be human. The first story in
Western literature is Homer’s Iliad
– on the face of it a tale of the
Trojan War. But it’s the story’s take
on jealousy, wrath, glory, love, fury
and futility that draw the modern
reader. Anyone who experiences it
cannot help but take sides – the
noble Hector versus the
vainglorious Achilles – conflict, as
fresh and relevant as the day it was
written down, mixed with tragedy,
bloodshed and immortality. The
Romans left a legacy of conquests
and a cast of real-life characters
with jaw-dropping stories, such as
Caligula, who threatened to make
his horse consul, or Livia,
rumoured to have poisoned her
husband with figs to stop him from
denying her son’s right to become
emperor.
Beyond primary and secondary
school, a degree in Classics leads
to a surprising number of career
opportunities. Whilst not a
vocational degree – unless you
count academia and archaeology
– graduates thrive in journalism,
law, politics, art, theatre, writing,
computer gaming – and most other
things besides. Mark Zuckerberg,
Chris Martin and J K Rowling are
all proof of the remarkable
outcomes of studying Classics.
But, for me, this ancient
Mediterranean diet is far more
nourishing. With its heady mix of
history, myth and magic, it
captures children’s interest early
and leads them to become
creative, empathetic thinkers with
an internalised sense of justice,
equality and responsibility. And, for
me, that’s what makes it one of the
most important and life-affirming
subjects we can offer our
youngsters.
* Hippopotamus: from the Greek
hippos meaning horse and
potamos meaning river, so literally
a ‘river horse’.
Julia Wills brings the Classics to life
with her books ‘Fleeced!’ and
‘Rampage!’
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Primary Times WINTER Issue | www.primarytimes.net/oxfordshire