The Status of Latin in Portugal: Resilience and Resistance

In our present times Languages and Humanities seem to be neglected in lieu of Science and Technology courses, and both teachers and parents redirect students towards courses that are said to make them more employable. This utilitarian view of education does not always provide the expected results an...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Susana Marta Pereira
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Cambridge University Press 2018-04-01
Series:The Journal of Classics Teaching
Online Access:https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2058631018000041/type/journal_article
Description
Summary:In our present times Languages and Humanities seem to be neglected in lieu of Science and Technology courses, and both teachers and parents redirect students towards courses that are said to make them more employable. This utilitarian view of education does not always provide the expected results and, in the short to medium term, ends up having nefarious consequences in the way humanity sees itself and how it supports humanist values. Whenever we ignore our past and look at it as if it were something useless and without relevance, we end up being, in a sense, overwhelmed with an admirable but ephemeral new world, where everything is illusory and without support. It is in this respect that the teaching of Latin in Portugal, as has been the case in other European countries, has been relegated to the old and the outdated, supposedly without any practical usefulness.
ISSN:2058-6310