"Latin is for the Elite"...and other Zombie Myths

Abstract

For some years I worked at a large, independent bookshop in a capital city in Australia. I was hired (in part) for my knowledge of Latin and it was customary for my colleagues to refer customers to me when questions about Latin or Ancient Greek arose. One morning a customer discovered that I was currently teaching her nephew Latin at one of the universities in that capital city. Her immediate, not unexpected, question was "Where did you go to school?" I replied that I had attended Armidale High School (one of two large, public high schools in a country town at that time of around 22,000 residents). Her response, delivered with enthusiasm and warmth, was: "I love stories like that! It's so heartwarming! Did you see the story in the paper this morning about the Afghani refugee who came to Australia with nothing and is now doing medicine?" For the record, I am the child of two primary-school teachers; I grew up in a loving, stable household in which few things were more highly valued than reading and education. I am also white-skinned, heterosexual and able-bodied. Some years before this incident, I vividly recall one of my beloved Latin lecturers declaring in class, "Latin is for the elite." When I responded that I was deeply uncomfortable with that sentiment, he advised me, "Better stick to Ancient History then." What I did not realise at the time, however, was that my own background of privilege and comfort apparently did not qualify me for membership of the Latin-learning elite.