Education Minister Nikos Filis is on a mission to take Ancient Greek lessons out of the curriculum of Greece’s high schools.
The proposal of eliminating Ancient Greek is only one measure in a complete overhaul of Greece’s secondary educational system. As Filis spoke to the state television station ERT TV last weekend, he demeaned the importance of Ancient Greek remaining in the curriculum saying that “language not spoken by people in their daily lives cannot be the language that determines the linguistic education of children,” adding that he feels it is “unnatural to teach Ancient Greek in school.”
Filis has spoken out on this issue saying the he feels that too much emphasis is placed on Ancient Greek, while Modern Greek which is the spoken language of the country, is not getting enough attention which eventually leads to pupils to having a poorer command of Modern Greek.
“We cannot have three hours of Ancient Greek and just two hours of Modern Greek in the first grade of high school,” Filis said.
The question remains if there is a conflict of interest in students learning Ancient Greek and Modern Greek simultaneously. Last May Kathimerini published a report stating that 56 academics also contested the teaching of Ancient Greek in the current curriculum and believed there to be no proof in modern linguistics that learning the ancient version of a language can actually help improve the usage of the modern form of that given language.
The question has boiled down to a much broader issue than merely deleting Ancient Greek from the secondary education system program, but rather whether removing it will strip the country of a much cherished cultural identity.
The argument has now moved on to leading academics who agree that the curriculum for Modern Greek in schools does need to be reformed, however, Ancient Greek also should retain a position of importance in the educational system.
Eleni Karamolegou, a dean at the Philosophical School of Athens, told Kathimerini in a report published on Tuesday that she supports keeping Ancient Greek in the curriculum program.
“There is indeed a necessity to improve the teaching of Modern Greek in high school but this should not be done at the expense of Ancient Greek…The two versions of our language should and must supplement each other in complete harmony.”
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