WTF, College Board! WTF, Latn teachers!
Okay, so College Board are being asses, but this time I honestly can't blame it entirely on them. They conducted a survey of AP Latin teachers, asking what they wanted to see on the new AP Latin curriculum.
There were some absolutely brilliant options, including some options that would allow students to take two years of AP Latin for credit, and options that included a variety of authors from different time periods, in different genres.
...and then there was the option the Latin teachers asked for. That is, if we can trust College Board to honestly report their results. Unfortunately, I can actually believe these results.
Apparently, the Latin teachers cried out in dismay at the possibility that they might be asked to teach a greater variety of authors, because this would require them (alas alack) to complete the necessary preparation to teach those authors.
Therefore, the vast majority of Latin teachers asked vehemently for an exam containing one poetry author and one prose author, period. And the survey determined which author they would include for each.
As expected, they're keeping Vergil as the poetry author. No surprise there; he is the best, after all, and he's also the poet whose work stands best on its own. He's also one of those authors that almost every Latin teacher has already studied.
And then there's the prose author.
*drum roll please*
Caesar.
Wait, what?
Caesar?! For AP?! WTF?!
I mean, I love the man and all, but his work does not belong as the sole prose author in a capstone study of Latin literature. It just doesn't.
WTF. Out of all the classical Latin prose in the world... Caesar.
There were some absolutely brilliant options, including some options that would allow students to take two years of AP Latin for credit, and options that included a variety of authors from different time periods, in different genres.
...and then there was the option the Latin teachers asked for. That is, if we can trust College Board to honestly report their results. Unfortunately, I can actually believe these results.
Apparently, the Latin teachers cried out in dismay at the possibility that they might be asked to teach a greater variety of authors, because this would require them (alas alack) to complete the necessary preparation to teach those authors.
Therefore, the vast majority of Latin teachers asked vehemently for an exam containing one poetry author and one prose author, period. And the survey determined which author they would include for each.
As expected, they're keeping Vergil as the poetry author. No surprise there; he is the best, after all, and he's also the poet whose work stands best on its own. He's also one of those authors that almost every Latin teacher has already studied.
And then there's the prose author.
*drum roll please*
Caesar.
Wait, what?
Caesar?! For AP?! WTF?!
I mean, I love the man and all, but his work does not belong as the sole prose author in a capstone study of Latin literature. It just doesn't.
WTF. Out of all the classical Latin prose in the world... Caesar.