Why We Need More, Not Less Latin in Schools …

Later this month, as part of the Mayor’s new Latin volunteering initiative, I will be going into comprehensive schools across the capital to talk to the students about the joys of Latin; more precisely, in an attempt to dispel Latin’s fusty, doddery and quite frankly arcane image problem (which we would be churlish to deny it has), I’ll be talking about why we need more (not fewer) Dead White Men in our lives and why ancient Rome was in fact, contrary to popular perception, a very multi-cultural place, with Black and brown emperors, playwrights and generals, not just slaves or menials. I’ll be asserting that in ancient Rome colour didn’t matter, only whether or not you were a Roman citizen. Other volunteers will be giving talks on a multitude of classical topics, such as democracy, the Olympic games, gladiators and the Latin language.

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