Classics and class, ljubljana 2013 symposium abstracts

*** Grażyna Czetwertyńska Faculty of „Artes Liberales, “ University of Warsaw Expectations and Disappointments — Latin and Antiquity as Components of the Education System in Poland at the Beginning of the 1990s The paper can be divided into two sections. The first one is an account of a discourse that was unifying the specialists of classics in their search for a place for Latin at school after the reform. The second one attempts to answer the question: “Why Latin, why antiquity at that moment?” This part contains reflections, proposals and solutions concerning the teaching of this subject and especially the role of teachers, their expectations, possibilities and disappointments.

Obtaining in-depth knowledge of an ancient language and culture is seldom a goal itself and many teachers are unwilling to accept the fact that the number of true enthusiasts of the subject keeps on decreasing. Often dissatisfied (in part rightly) with traditional teaching methods, they try various ways of making lessons more attractive and introduce modern methods.

This is usually not enough, because it cannot replace genuine motivation and faith in the usefulness of the knowledge in question.

Latin and ancient cultures were in a very special situation.

The supporters of their role in educational system had to take into consideration all the possibilities and threats generated by the turbulent social changes and educational reforms. On the basis of successive versions of the core curricula, we can analyze the functioning of the classics in the reform and the transition from just one binding model (identical for all) of teaching Latin, Greek and the culture of antiquity into the possibility of implementing individual, local ideas for programs and individual projects, realized only in particular schools, by particular teachers. I also try to outline the tasks of a Latin teacher who, at a time of relativism, tries to develop cultural identity in young 19