By Kevin Coughlin
In a classic marriage of old and new, seniors at Morristown High School are discovering antiquity using iPads and camcorders.
They are pioneering a new program called Classics Academy that taps two trends: a nationwide resurgence of Latin courses and the school’s beefed-up use of technology in the classroom.
“This is the beginning of a paradigm shift,” said teacher Mark Gutkowski, who had a dozen Latin students when he came to MHS in 1997.
Today, the subject is so popular that the school has hired a second Latin teacher. And the Latin Club has swollen—thanks in part to Mark’s annual chariot races—to 170 students.
MHS Latin Club induction ceremony photos by Bridget ByrneClassics Academy, launched this fall, resembles a college major. Five classes—Advanced Placement Latin, European history, English literature, classical history/mathematics and a symposium conducted by Mark—all place special emphasis on the ancient Greeks and Romans.
In her Classics English class, teacher Cynthia Laudadio connects the dots between mythology and pop culture with songs such as Cream’s Ulysses and Al Stewart’s Helen and Cassandra. And she notes Shakespeare’s marketing genius by observing how he used Hamlet to promote his favorite Roman, Julius Caesar.
The team includes history teacher Dawn DeMartino and math teacher Harry Sugar, who is using an astronomy application on the new iPads to teach students ancient navigation by the stars.
They are emulating an immersive approach that has been successful in Morristown High’s Science Academy, started nine years ago. And it reflects a renewed national interest in the “dead” language of Latin, an interest that educators say owes something to the Latin spells cast by Harry Potter and movies such as Gladiator and Troy.
There are not enough Latin teachers to fill the openings nationwide, said Adam Blistein, executive director of the American Philological Association at the University of Pennsylvania. He said students who study Latin score higher on college entrance exams, have a better grasp of English and write more clearly, qualities that stand out in a tough job market. “People at the top have seen too many incomprehensible memos. They want people who can read and write,” Adam said.
In 2006, the most recent year for which statistics are available, 32,000 students were enrolled in college Latin courses. That’s up from 26,000 in 1998, said Rosemary Feal, executive director of the Modern Language Association.
MOODLING IN MORRISTOWN
On a recent Friday morning, students in Mark’s symposium were hunched over iPads—the district bought 20 of the Apple tablet computers for the Classics Academy–sharing their thoughts on “creativity” via a forum on a school-wide network called Moodle.
The iPads encourage shy kids to chime in on discussion topics posted by Mark.
Moments later, they shifted their attention to a wall screen, where Mark projected three video essays by students attempting to define “creativity.”
The videos were, well, creative. One had a musical motif, with a song written and performed by Academy student Gloria Bangiola. Another, directed by the co-host of a school TV show, includes a humorous exchange with the teacher.
The creativity exercise was meant to prime the Academy students for a year-end project in which they will synthesize insights gleaned from Virgil, Homer, Plato and a lot of other dead guys.
What’s the attraction for students in the era of Lady Gaga?
John Abrams grew intrigued in the eighth grade, when he heard about a funny Latin teacher at the high school, Mark Gutkowski. And he figured Latin might help boost his SAT scores.
“I also really fell in love with mythology. That’s really been my passion, reading the original works,” John said.
“What I want to know is, why not join Latin?” said Derek Mull, who inherited a love of mythology from his dad. “Doing this [Academy] has been, ‘Yes! Thank you!‘”
Gloria Bangiola wants to study philosophy in college. She has been reading the great thinkers for a couple of years.
“It’s just so interesting to think of the way people thought, and really the similarities between the way people thought back then and the way they think now. Because we draw a line between the two, and I really don’t think they’re that different…They are very relevant,” she said.
“What makes the works that we’re studying as great as they are is that they are so applicable. They’re timeless. That’s why they’re epics,” said classmate Noelia Mann.
“In Penelope, you can see the resilience of a woman,” Noelia said. “In the character of Odysseus you can see how you need to embrace both the masculine and the feminine side to be able to overcome your pride and approach self-realization. Those are all themes and characters that the world still needs to recognize as important.”
Reading ancient works in Latin reveals nuances that are missed in English translations, she said.
Is Latin for everyone?
“If you’re passionate for it, it’s for you,” Gloria Bangiola said. “But if you’re passionate about building computers and working with numbers, that’s what’s for you. That’s what should be catered to—what you’re passionate about.”
Classics Academy strives to indulge students’ passion for Latin in the same way schools traditionally have indulged their love of sports, said Mark Gutkowski, who won Princeton University’s Distinguished Secondary Educator Award in 2005.
This is the paradigm shift he perceives. Teacher monologues are giving way to a collaborative environment in which students take charge of their education, he said.
“We have to change. We don’t have an option in our country. The world has changed. Our education hasn’t,” said Mark, 37, who was turned on to Latin by a mentor during his college days at Rutgers University.
At MHS, he has staged mock Roman naval battles and coached his students to a third-place finish in a statewide Latin quiz bowl.
What draws him to Latin?
“There’s something comforting about the timelessness of this,” he said, “knowing that generations before you have thought there was value in this, and were applying it to their lives.”
MORE ON ‘CLASSICS ACADEMY’:
Something new in Morristown High classrooms: Smartphones
Morristown High ‘Classics Academy’: Why we love our iPads
Video: Chariots of Firewood
