Ralston College was very pleased to be featured in an interesting article in the current issue of The Spectator, a title based in London as the world’s oldest weekly magazine.
Surveying the current rise of the “active method” in teaching Latin and Greek, which places speaking at the heart of learning these ancient languages, the historian Bijan Omrani reported on how Ralston is leading this development through its own immersive Greek pedagogy.
Interviewing our Provost, Dr David Butterfield, Omrani reported on the philosophy and character of Ralston’s activities. He wrote:
“Spoken Ancient Greek is a fundamental part of Ralston’s attempt to correct the failure [of higher education in the humanities]. ‘We believe that the greatest works and ideas of the western tradition are best understood without mediation,’ says Dr Butterfield. ‘These works must be approached as much on their own terms as possible, and the best means of doing that is to read the first texts of that tradition not in translation but in Greek. Our students learn to speak Greek, so they not only read these texts directly but discuss them in their very language. This gives an immediacy and intimacy of understanding that the vernacular simply cannot provide.’
“Are we going to see the spread of spoken Latin and Ancient Greek into schools and other universities? As Dr Butterfield says, although it is the most efficient and effective way of learning the languages, there is a striking shortage of those with sufficient linguistic and teaching skills to make it happen. There is also a profound reluctance to challenge deep-rooted classroom habits… the work of Oxford and Ralston shows that if schools and universities have the courage to rethink the way they teach, many more modern students could again enjoy and find deep meaning in the great classical authors with the ease of Erasmus or Elizabeth I.”
The full article can be read here.
