4 thoughts on “The Classicist: The Value of Studying the Classics”
Thank you for sharing these thoughts in the context of your own academic journey. It boils my blood to see Princeton do this after working my butt off to study at Oxford, doing a 3 year M.A. in 2 and taking 2 years off work to bring my languages up to snuff only to be rejected 2 years in a row by every Ancient History or History of the Mediterranean World program I applied to and ultimately told that I “just wasn’t serious”. My blood sublimated straight out of my pores when I consider my friend with 2 M.A.s (one from a very prestigious program and a prestigious undergraduate to boot)and a long list of conference presentations and papers being dissuaded from pursuing a classics PHd. Because “you’re not competitive” and “being from *a southern state* and having a religious college on your CV, they’ll just assume you’re some Trump-voting VDH”. (Incidentally, I was told to get rid of all my Hanson books before applying to schools…) anyhow, these guys don’t give a sh** about Classics. They’ve destroyed their own departments and are now scrambling to lower the bar so their funding doesn’t get cut or their department scrapped and parceled out between more highly attended programs. Wow. That was cathartic! Thanks!
Great listening to coherent and timely analysis of the current cultural maelstrom. I have found the new Classist podcast … still looking for the Traditionalist.
Jim, you can google “Art19 + Victor Davis Hanson” and it will take you to a link that has three podcast by VDH each week. They are also available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
This was a wonderful story and has a common theme: professors and teachers who saw a young student with potential and then believed, guided, and taught. The fruits of that endeavor are evident.
It is exactly what is missing in education- both at the collegiate and the secondary levels- today. Professors outsource teaching to teaching assistants and poorly paid adjuncts to concentrate on research. Secondary teachers are focused on days off, class sizes, union priorities, and social indoctrination.
Thank you for sharing these thoughts in the context of your own academic journey. It boils my blood to see Princeton do this after working my butt off to study at Oxford, doing a 3 year M.A. in 2 and taking 2 years off work to bring my languages up to snuff only to be rejected 2 years in a row by every Ancient History or History of the Mediterranean World program I applied to and ultimately told that I “just wasn’t serious”. My blood sublimated straight out of my pores when I consider my friend with 2 M.A.s (one from a very prestigious program and a prestigious undergraduate to boot)and a long list of conference presentations and papers being dissuaded from pursuing a classics PHd. Because “you’re not competitive” and “being from *a southern state* and having a religious college on your CV, they’ll just assume you’re some Trump-voting VDH”. (Incidentally, I was told to get rid of all my Hanson books before applying to schools…) anyhow, these guys don’t give a sh** about Classics. They’ve destroyed their own departments and are now scrambling to lower the bar so their funding doesn’t get cut or their department scrapped and parceled out between more highly attended programs. Wow. That was cathartic! Thanks!
Great listening to coherent and timely analysis of the current cultural maelstrom. I have found the new Classist podcast … still looking for the Traditionalist.
Jim, you can google “Art19 + Victor Davis Hanson” and it will take you to a link that has three podcast by VDH each week. They are also available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Hello,
This was a wonderful story and has a common theme: professors and teachers who saw a young student with potential and then believed, guided, and taught. The fruits of that endeavor are evident.
It is exactly what is missing in education- both at the collegiate and the secondary levels- today. Professors outsource teaching to teaching assistants and poorly paid adjuncts to concentrate on research. Secondary teachers are focused on days off, class sizes, union priorities, and social indoctrination.
Thank you for sharing.