5. Hellenic Paideia
HELLENIC PAIDEIA: COLLEGE LEVEL EDUCATION FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS1
Dean C. Lomis, Ph.D.
Emeritus Director, International Center
University of Delaware, Newark, DE
Prologue
When asked how much educated men were superior to uneducated, Aristotle replied: “As much as the living are to the dead.”
Euripides advocated: “Who so neglects learning in his youth, loses the past and is dead for the future.”
Diogenes emphasized that “Only the educated are free.”
The ancient Greek poet Pindar advised: “That which is silent dies.”
Benjamin Franklin promoted that “The good education of youth has been esteemed by wise men in all ages as the surest foundation of happiness.”
The famous educator Maria Montessori maintained that “The unknown that can help humanity is that which is hidden in a child.”
And, recently — now-retired — Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice Nicholas Papadakos remarked: “The Greek American is doing away with the Greek language, heritage and culture in one generation, which the Turks could not do in Greece over 400 years of occupation, intimidation and extermination.”
Introduction
The concern that we are losing our youth from our Hellenic heritage and culture is now a major reality. Unlike yesteryear, the vast majority of Greek American youth today falls in the negative with regard to Greek heritage and culture. Young Greek Americans may certainly identify as being “Greek,” but if asked what this means, the vast majority would not be able to explain. Just like being “American” is not only hot dog and apple pie, baseball and coca-cola, likewise being Greek is not only feta and souvlaki, baklava and syrtaki.
Currently, the second and third, and even fourth, generations of Greek Americans who comprehend the dilemma, but who desire to maintain and improve Hellenism for their offspring, find themselves at a loss on what to do. Some try to bring preschool children together to watch Greek video tapes and listen to Greek children’s songs; some make a valiant effort to speak some Greek at home; some establish nurseries at their Hellenic community center; and, some are considering other initiatives. All these efforts or considerations certainly deserve commendation. However, unless some serious national program is developed so that the emphasis will be united and extended, all the aforementioned – as well-meaning and as good as they may be – they will only be “band-aid” approaches.
The Issue
Our Hellenic American communities are experiencing serious difficulties with upper high school and college-level Greek Americans attending church, maintaining their Greek language and their Hellenic heritage and culture, and remaining in the community, including marriage, after completion of their formal education. Since times have indeed changed, it is no longer necessary to “Americanize” a “Greek immigrant community.” AHEPA did a masterful job on this – perhaps even too good – for, as our then-Senator of Delaware and now our nation’s Vice President – a strong philhellene – has said: “Stop trying to be ‘super-Americans’.” Rather, the task now is to “[re]Hellenize” an “American society of Greek descent.”
The Need
Considering the present situation both a challenge and an opportunity, a need is clearly apparent for innovative and creative ideas to provide new approaches of relevance to the interest of the young, beyond the well-meaning but “band-aid” attempts. In our increasingly interdependent world, the maintenance of the language, religion, heritage and culture of our forefathers is paramount to the continuity of our communities and to the best interests of our country, the United States of America, in bilateral terms with the country of our ancestry, Greece. The events of September 11, 2001 certainly attest to this when some 3,000 victims from several countries, the most from the United States, including Greek Americans and Helladic Greeks and a Cypriot, perished in that dastardly terrorist attack.
There is dire need, therefore, for our young to learn and maintain the Greek heritage and culture for their own “quality of life,” and in promoting the continuity of the Hellenic spirit upon which our Founding Fathers developed and established this “empire of reason” based on the “age of reason” of the classical Greeks.
The Objective
The objective of the plan for “Hellenic Paideia” I present today is at least six-fold: to the benefit of our future generations and their families; to our Greek Orthodox Church; to our Hellenic communities; to the organizations which might decide to support it; to this, the University of South Florida, if it accepts the challenge and the opportunity to promote it; and, to our ancestral land of Greece.
The Benefit
The benefits of this proposal are perhaps endless; for the young: the opportunity to begin their higher education at an earlier age, thereby developing an earlier reality of the need and understanding of higher education; for the parents: the satisfaction that a “structured” national program is operating, which also provides substantial college-education financial savings; for our Greek Orthodox Church: the providing of needed services which, in turn, receive greater youth attendance; for our Hellenic communities: greater participation and involvement; for our organizations: relevance; for our Greek afternoon or evening schools: meaningfulness as preparatory for advanced study; for the University of South Florida Hellenic Studies Program: the opportunity to lead the effort and become the focal center of our youth’s Hellenic education; and, for Greece: renewed and stronger bonds. Let us not fool ourselves. Young Greek Americans do not share bonds with young Helladic Greeks. A very good example is our college campuses. Very few Greek American students socialize with students from Greece. Even among themselves, Greek Americans do not make sustained effort from day one on campus – as in the past – to meet other Greek students from the U.S. or Greece. Meetings are usually accidental and usually not durable.
The Procedure
A. Structure
1. As an accredited tertiary institution, the University of South Florida with its successful Hellenic Studies Program be supported in developing and administering a nationwide college level program of Hellenic studies for high school students and others who may wish to enroll.
a. Under the guidance of the University’s Program, each and every Hellenic community across our nation establish an extension program to offer a uniform curriculum of Hellenic studies college-level program for high school students.
b. Each community, under the supervision of its parish council, recruit teaching faculty from among its parishioners and from local colleges and universities, who meet the criteria of the South Florida’s guidelines, to be offered adjunct professorial positions with the University of South Florida Hellenic Studies Program.
c. The extension curriculum should be as follows, based on high school academic terms but for college credit.
Freshman Year
Fall semester: Elementary Modern Greek I (3 college credits): This course should be very elementary, to some extent a review for those with Greek afternoon/evening school background. It should teach grammatical structure in the manner foreign languages are taught at U.S. colleges and universities. Included should be information on how the Greek language has influenced the West and the English language, beginning by showing that of the 26 letters of the English alphabet 16 are derived directly from the Greek, in capital form.
Spring semester: Elementary Modern Greek II (3 college credits): Continuing from the first term, students should be able to construct simple sentences, begin to read ably, and start conversing at a comfortable level. Included should be information on how much the Greek language has influenced the English language, as students begin to recognize the English words derived from Greek.
Sophomore Year
Fall semester: Intermediate Modern Greek I (3 college credits): This course is to expand on the grammar, moving into syntax structure, and showing that of the 166, 724 words in The Webster International Dictionary, 41,214 (25%) are Greek in origin; and, that if the words with Greek prefixes and suffixes are added, the percentage rises considerably, and if the Latin words derived from Greek are also added,the percentage rises significantly.
Spring semester: Intermediate Modern Greek II (3 college credits): This course is to solidify the working knowledge of the language, and show students that comprehending Greek strengthens their English.
Junior Year
Fall semester: History of Ancient Greece (3 college credits): This course is to offer students knowledge not only on the heroic exploits, but more so on the significance of ancient Greece. This should solidify their knowledge that the story-like [paramythenioi] characters they heard in passing at Greek afternoon schools or at home, or to some minor extent in their American middle school classes, were indeed real, and the precursors of our own American democracy. In addition, they would learn the importance of the wars and victories over the Persians in preparing and protecting the birth of Western Civilization.
Spring semester: History of Modern Greece (3 college credits): This course is to show the significance of Byzantium in the continuity of Hellenism, attaining new levels of intellectual and humanistic achievements, becoming the guiding light of Western Civilization through the Dark Ages. The course will include how the Greeks maintained their Greek spirit and identity during the course of 400 years of Tourkokratia, and the importance of the Greek Revolution and Independence. It will also cover the significant Greek role in the global perspective through its preservation of Western Civilization by its heroic stand in World War II, and conclude with its present-day relevance as a member of the European Union and as the economic leader of the Balkans.
Senior Year
Fall semester: The American Hellenic Society (3 college credits): This course is to offer insights of the Greek American experience throughout the centuries from the discovery of America to the present. Students should be both fascinated and excited to learn that from the time of Columbus the Greek human element was present in the New World; that the first Greek settlement was in St. Augustine, Florida; that Americans went to Greece and fought in the War of Greek Independence because they felt so strongly about Greece; that in the development of America Greeks played significant roles from workers building the transcontinental railroad to being professors at esteemed academic institutions; that Greek Americans have had enormous successes in business, government, and in research institutes; that Greek Americans have held high positions of responsibility, like the Greek American Commandant of the U.S. Naval Academy in the second half of the 19th Century; that the first Greek American (and Greece-born at that) U.S. Congressman came from Wisconsin in the third quarter of the 19th Century; that the United States organized the Greek-American Battalion which eventually fought gallantly and was highly decorated by the French government for its valiant contribution during World War II in France; that U.S. Major General Gus Pagonis, when ordered by General Colin Powell to develop a supply plan for Desert Shield in Iraq in 1990, he applied — with modifications for present-day requirements – the plan Alexander the Great developed for his march through Asia; and so much more. They might even learn that after the dastardly Turkish invasion of Cyprus, when our U.S. policy-makers were not responding because there was not much outcry from an otherwise unaware American public, the Greek restaurateurs in downtown Chicago shutdown their restaurants one Monday noon, to the confusion of the public, which was educated that day outside the closed restaurants, in turn compelling their then-Senator Charles Percy ultimately to support the Greek cause in Washington.
Spring semester: Orthodoxy in the Americas (3 college credits): Not to be taught as evangelical, this course should inform of the background of Orthodoxy as a religion but in the sociological sense, and explain how it is conducted in Diaspora, and how it is associated with Greece and with the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Constantinople.
Post-High School/Pre-College Summer
The Hellenic Studies Program of the University of South Florida make arrangements with the Aristotelian University of Thessaloniki, or another high-level academic institution in Greece, for a six-week, two-course summer program, granting 6 college credits, for Introduction to Classical Greek (3 college credits), and Advanced Modern Greek (3 college credits).
Introduction to Classical Greek may be offered 8:00 – 9:30 a.m. and Advanced Modern Greek may be offered 9:30 – 11:00 a.m., daily. The latter should be followed by an internship experience, with each student assigned from 11:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. to a local store to be exposed to direct conversation with the people. On weekends, the program should include visits to museums, archaeological sites and other points of pedagogical importance, while weekend evenings be spent frequenting local tavernas and other community functions for the social acquaintance of the participants.
Curriculum Distribution
1) The four semesters of elementary and Modern Greek satisfy the two-year, twelve-credit foreign language requirement of any college or university.
2) The two semesters of history satisfy the one-year, six-credit social science requirement of any college or university.
3) The two semesters of community life and Orthodoxy (not in religious sense) satisfy the one-year, six-credit humanities requirement of any college or university.
4) The two summer-study-in-Greece courses satisfy group or elective requirements of any college or university.
Adjunct Faculty Recruitment
1) Each community recruit potential faculty for adjunct appointment, upon approval by the University of South Florida Hellenic Studies Program.
2) With regard to faculty for Modern Greek language instruction, each community has individuals well-educated in Greece who can teach college-level elementary and intermediate Modern Greek, under existing or to-be-developed guidelines of the South Florida’s Hellenic Studies Program.
3) For Ancient Greek History, a professor of Greek History from a local college or university should be recruited. Most colleges and universities offer at least one course of Ancient Greek History.
4) For Modern Greek History, reliance should be placed on Greece-educated persons who meet South Florida’s Hellenic Studies Program requirements, and who will teach in accordance with the Program’s existing or new guidelines.
5) The American Hellenic Society course may be taught by a Greek American professor or teacher who meets the requirements of the University of South Florida Hellenic Studies Program, and in accordance with its guidelines. To prepare selected faculty to teach this course – and perhaps others, the University’s Hellenic Studies Program may conduct a one-to-two-week intensive preparatory summer course on the campus and/or in a suitable facility in Greece.
6) The course on Orthodoxy in the Americas may be taught by the local priest or a qualified lay person, at the approval of South Florida’s Hellenic Studies Program.
7) The post-high school/pre-college summer study in Greece should be considered as an ordinary “study abroad program,” with six college credits credited directly to each attending student’s academic file at the University of South Florida.
Tuition and expenses
1) Tuition may be assessed per course at the beginning of each term, the amount to be determined by the University.
2) In addition to payment to adjunct faculty, a percentage to be determined should be provided to the local parish for expenses of holding classes on its premises.
College Credit
· All courses should be accumulated as “college credits” toward a degree from the University of South Florida. High school graduates who have attended the University’s Hellenic Studies Program and decide to continue their studies at the University of South Florida will be entering with thirty (30) credits, the equivalent of one year of tertiary education.
· High school graduates, who desire to attend another tertiary institution, should be able to apply for transfer transcript of their accumulated academic credits.
Success
The success of this proposal depends on the ‘structure’ and administration determined by the Hellenic Studies Program of the University of South Florida, and by the benefits of the concept explained to the Hellenic communities across our nation for participation.
Results
The successful implementation and operation of this proposed plan should have illimitable positive results. For one, the plan should create long-lasting enthusiasm at least to most members of the Greek Orthodox communities. Second, it should provide for the general education in the Greek language, heritage and culture, and deepen knowledge of our Hellenic heritage and Orthodox religion. Third, it should create renewed interest, participation, and advocacy for and of our culture, heritage, community, and faith. Fourth, it should be of considerable financial help in these times of high educational costs. Fifth, it could shorten tertiary education by one year, a financial saving in itself. Sixth, it should provide a new impetus to our American Hellenic society, proving the significance and importance of its existence. Seventh, it should better equip our youth to enter our now expanding multicultural and interdependent world. Eighth, it should prepare our young to be better educated individuals because of the benefits that better education provides. Ninth, no matter what the ultimate major field of study, it should provide each student completing the thirty-credit curriculum with a minor in Hellenic studies. And last, but certainly not least, it should make elementary-grade Greek afternoon and evening schools more relevant as preparatory for the Hellenic studies college-level program while in high school. A highly valuable added advantage will be the newly-developed bonds that young Greek Americans will establish with the country of their ancestry, knowing and feeling their Hellenism.
The Purpose
The purpose of this proposal is to consider the needs and determine relevant solutions to the issue of paideia confronting our American Hellenic Society, in conjunction with the Hellenic Studies Program of the University of South Florida. Implementing this or a similar proposal should make the University’s Hellenic Studies Program even more relevant in providing expanded educational services to the American Hellenic communities, as they work, together, for the preservation and maintenance of our Greek heritage and culture. Eventually it could, and should, become the educational guiding light of our ethnicity.
Conclusion
The proposed plan will require the particular attention every Hellenic community in America. It is strongly recommended than when finalized to the satisfaction of the best professional judgment of the Hellenic Studies Program of the University of South Florida — if the proposal is adopted, it be released to all American Hellenic press and information media for wide coverage.
Epilogue
Aristotle advocated that “the fate of empires rests on the education of youth.” I think you agree with me that the fate of the Empire of Hellenism rests on the education of our young Hellenes. Therefore, in closing I want to do like a coach who gives to his players his final inspiration before the kickoff, tipoff, or first pitch, for the task ahead may be difficult but the objective is noble. I wish to recite three stanzas of George Veritis’ poem: “Kourayio,” as it was provided fairly recently to me in Wilmington, Delaware by one of our retired clergy, Father George Giannaris:
Τόν πύργο χτίζουμε όλοι αντάμα,
καί στό Χριστό κάνουμε τάμα
κανένας μας νά μή σταθή,
ώσπου η δουλιά μας νά τελειώση,
στό βράχο ο πύργος νά ριζώση
κι’ ίσα μέ τ’ άστρα νά υψωθή!
Άλλοι αγκωνάρια πελεκάνε,
κι’ άλλοι τ’ ασβέστι κουβαλάνε
καί φτιάνουνε πηλό απ’ τή γή.
Καθείς τόν κόπο του θά βάλη,
κι’ είναι μικροί κι’ είναι μεγάλοι
κι’ άλλοι μαστόροι, άλλοι ‘πουργοί.
Τόν πύργο χτίζουμε όλοι αντάμα,
κουράγιο, αδέλφια, γιά τό τάμα
πούχομε κάνει στό Χριστό.
Όλοι μέ κέφι άς εργαστούμε,
καί μέ χαρά άς αγωνιστούμε
γιά νά τό κάνουμε σωστό!
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1 A contribution from the Advisory Council on Hellenic Education of the Hellenic Link, Inc.