Consilio Et Animis

Once the province and tool of élite learning in American society and the core of theHumanities the study of the Classics now occupies a tenuous place on the margins ofcurriculum in most public schools. Administrators of schools and districts with limitedresources teachers and students of ancient Greek and Roman culture and languageconfront many questions regarding the relevance and utility of including the Classics ineducation that must address modern challenges.In this book Toni Ryan argues that the Classics provide students with a uniquely widerange of opportunities for critical examination of the connections among languagecultural constructions of power and knowledge and oppression in society. She proposesa rationale for incorporating a critical approach to classical studies in American public schools as a path to exploringsocial justice issues. Critical pedagogy in Classics offers a platform for illuminating paths for critical awarenessreflection and action in the quest to understand and address the broad concerns of social justice.Ryan asserts the potential for education in Classics to be reconstructed to empower and emancipate particularly throughthe exploration of philosophical questions that have been pondered in classical cultures (and in classical studies) sinceantiquity. For public school educators and students the examination of classical language and culture allows us to safelyexplore critical questions in an admittedly unsafe world. Those questions that are eternally ours that are eternallycentered in the human condition are the province of Classics.