It’s time to end unequal access to Classics

Ruins of Ancient Rome; Temple of Concord

(https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:William_Austin_-_Ruins_of_Ancient_Rome,_Temple_of_Concord,_Temple_of_Antoninus_and_Faustina,_Arch_of_Titus,_Statue_-_B1995.13.68_-_Yale_Center_for_British_Art.jpg)

Few to no state schools in Scotland offer Classics at the current time.

We believe this is because not many teachers specialize in Classics, and this is because there is currently no teacher training in Classics available in Scotland. In order to become a teacher in any specific subject you must have an interest in the subject that blossoms over many years of deepening your knowledge and then continuing that growth into university where you can then gain qualifications and degrees.

Unfortunately 95% of classics students at university went to private school, which means even if possible future Classics teachers (from a background of state schools) were to make an extra effort at learning Classics as deeply as their private school colleagues do, their opportunities are limited since statistically they have only a 5% chance to successfully join a university course of study.

Classics is not explained to pupils like us as a “necessary” subject (something which History and Modern Studies, for example can get away with) and due to few schools offering the subject, Classics is looked upon as a “privilege” or “extracurricular” subject (when in reality, why is it so different to Art, Music or History?).    

Private schools are usually able to preserve their Classics departments since they have more money and the parents of their students expect it as a choice for their children. However, when the funding for a state schools goes down, the school has to make cuts to teacher numbers, and the first teachers/departments to go are the “minority subjects”.

Classics departments in state schools have been closed because it was easy to do so. Private schools cost more to parents than state schools (this is no secret) so the parents and guardians paying these fees for their child’s education receive a wider range of opportunities for their child.

Because of how little Classics is talked about in the general public, and how the majority of people receive a false view of these subjects (it being a “privilege”), it is possible that private schools jump on the opportunity to provide a subject of such scarcity to their school community. Its elite status makes it hard for elite schools to remove it.

Classics is presented to us as a “posh” subject and it is falsely associated with “poshness”. This stereotype has grown throughout years of Classics being available dominantly in private schools (which are also associated with “poshness”). 

For state school pupils not to get the lifelong perks and advantages that Classics brings to them, our society seems to be saying that A CHILD should not get the same education as another child simply because the other is more privileged and/or was born into a wealthier family.

This situation gives the idea that currently in Scotland money is worth more than a fair and full education for ALL children.

The only honest reason for learning anything is because it interests you. And all pupils deserve the chance to find Classics if it is something they are interested in. School is a tool given to the children of Scotland to help them find the things they love, and then provide the stability and support they need to pursue them.

Why should the opportunities that a school brings to its pupils vary based on which subject they love? If a school can't provide what it's meant to provide (support for what their pupils love) then it's not doing its job properly.