The National Junior Classical League needs to consider the way its reception of Classics reinforces white supremacy and nationalism. — Recently, the National Junior Classical League (NJCL), still dealing with the controversy around the gendered and misogynistic choices for dramatic interpretation and the costume contest for the 2020 convention, made some notable changes to the wording of their costume contest. Rather than male, female, and couple options, they announced individual…

Latin teachers of all methods need to put aside their differences and unite to rid Classics of white supremacy. — I have been disheartened recently by conversation threads I have seen (and commented on) in various Facebook groups related to Latin pedagogy. Secondary Classics is becoming increasingly polarized over approaches to teaching the Latin language to students, whether it be through a grammar-translation method or a comprehensible input method. This…

The story of Pygmalion is a story of rape. Hedging around this issue is irresponsible and damaging to our students. — In light of the recent National Junior Classical League’s decision to offer Pygmalion and Galatea as the ‘couples’ option for the costume contest and the reaction that has been met with (unfortunately a reaction that includes apathetic acceptance), I have been reflecting a lot on the ethical responsibilities we as…