Confirmation classes are upon us once more at Blackfen, and I suddenly realised that I'm getting a little long in the tooth.
Trying to explain the basis for knowing the history of the Church and the evidence for the existence of Jesus Christ, I discovered that none of the girls in my group had ever heard of Julius Caesar...
*sigh*
I think it's just a sign of the times...we're just not that educated. Those girls sound a lot like the girls my mom teaches! (I'm a little embarrassed by my generation, we're really pretty ignorant sometimes)
ReplyDeleteYep, another time another place. We were lucky to have Roman history for the first year of our secondary education. Maybe you've got the chance to adopt Caesar's three Vs. Nil desperandum.
ReplyDeleteThey weren't lucky enough to know him first time round.
ReplyDeleteAs one of the Classics guys at work said regarding easier exams,
'Julius Caesar couldn't have done our Latin O Level.'
They do the French Revolution in Year 8. You could educate them about the Vendee....
ReplyDeleteHow old are they? :-D Along those lines if you really want to feel old, have you seen the list that Beloit College (in the US) puts out as reminders to their faculty?
ReplyDeleteAlong the lines of:
'Most incoming freshmen were born in year X -- they never....owned a record....' and on and on. It's really quite an eye opener.
Don't feel badly. I was teaching a class on Arthurian myths and related literature in 1981, and one of my students out of twenty, did not know what a "chalice" was. Obviously, your girl does not play computer games, but Western Civ has not been a required course in American high schools since the 1970s in most states. We are in decline and it has nothing to do with your age.
ReplyDeletePlease where does Julius Caesar come into Confirmation preparation?? How old are the group and so you just have the girls??
ReplyDeleteJohn, does it matter how old the girls are? I am female and I knew who Caesar was from various sources as a child. My son, who was reading Asterix at the age of five, knew who he was. As to Confirmation prep, I can see several areas where Caesar could be part of the discussion, having taught girls and boys Confirmation prep.
ReplyDeleteJohn the organist - for how Julius Caesar fits into the Confirmation programme, read what I wrote again...
ReplyDelete"Trying to explain the basis for knowing the history of the Church and the evidence for the existence of Jesus Christ..."
It is a girls' group (we have single-sex classes for Confirmation at Blackfen) and they are all in Year 8 (about 12-13 years old.)