Why should interest be limited by circumstance? A reflection on Widening Participation in Classics. Holly Cotton
To put it frankly, I wouldn’t be sat here today if it weren’t for public engagement in Classics.
Picture me aged 16, beginning their history A-level and an ardent Percy Jackson kid. Classics was not even on my radar. The idea that you could study ancient myths and archaeology was mind-blowing to that kid from a mining town in rural Lancashire. I found out purely by accident, on the UCAS website, but reading about the theatre festival and the work of the Warwick Classics Network I decided I wholeheartedly had to take the chance to study this. And I was so excited to enter this world of history, archaeology and theatre at university.
I just don’t know that joy alone will save classics from itself.
What is the problem?
“It is not just the case that bright students in state schools don’t get the opportunity to study Classics or classical languages and have to work hard to catch up later: it’s that Classics often isn’t even on their radar.” [Edinburgh Impact Review]
As such, outreach programs like Classics for All and the WCN are fundamental in creating that first encounter with the ancient world (building off of organic interest from early encounters like Percy Jackson or learning about the Romans in primary school).
But that is not the only problem…
For the first-time Classicist, studying Classics at the university level is daunting. The impression they get, from the very beginning is that they don’t fit in. They are playing catch up in languages and literature that their peers have had years to familiarise themselves with.[1] Testaments compiled by the CUCD attest to the lived experience of first-time, often working-class Classicists, who’s voices fall on deaf ears, not given the time of day, of issues raised at sympathetic forums being shot down, and the psychological phenomenon of code-switching to give your voice more weight.[2] It is with a heavy heart that I attest to these experiences in my own university career.
The culture of precarity and overworking that signifies the privilege of the neurotypical upper-class to dedicate wholly their time to the arts, ignores entirely the compound struggles of working-class classicists who do not have that luxury, who must work to support their degree, or struggle with neurodivergence and are spent by constantly having to catch up. And that is why it is critical that Public Engagement be tied to Widening Participation. The lived experiences of working-class classicists are imperative to making the study accessible to all.
How can it be fixed: the importance of Engagement?
It is imperative, in this moment more than ever, with the rise of right-wing fascism globally, that knowledge, and especially classics study, is not gatekept or used to further exclusionary tactics within society.
The work of public engagement is not just about getting students into university but rigorously preserving a nourishing and safe environment for those encountering classics for the first time to remain passionate and engaged in their learning. Equally, entry requirements must be made, and remain, accessible to the first-time classicist. Classics cannot be allowed to maintain hegemony over knowledge for futures to come: systematic exclusion of the interested public denied access by the conservative elite cannot be the status quo for any longer. Time and space must also be dedicated to uplifting voices from WP backgrounds in classics and taking onboard how to improve classics at university for futures to come.
Without challenging policies at the government level, the solution to public engagement with classics I believe lies not in changes of curriculum or funding (a teacher can only dream) but in ground level work by invested lecturers and organisations like Classics for All in ensuring their teaching remains accessible and inviting, allowing interest to bloom into research and not gatekeeping the discipline.
Beyond the undergraduate level too, change is necessary to keep Classics alive. The majority of MA programs necessitate language, and routes into academia are still kept rigorously guarded and inaccessible. Only 38.7% of Classics professors are women, for example.[3] The system continuously recreates itself to exclude the masses. You need only look at the Eton educated politicians to understand why Classics must open up.
People should engage with classics because they find it fascinating, but also in spite of exclusionary tactics that aim to make classics a discipline of the white supremacist elite.
Bibliography
CUCD Bulletin, “Classics at UK Universities,” CUCD_BulletinStats_Table A_Overview_2019_2020 FINAL Accessed 10th February 2025.
CUCD Equality, Diversion and Inclusion, “Working-Class Classics: Myths, Stories and Experiences,” Working-Class Classics: Myths, Stories and Experiences – CUCD EDI Accessed 8th February 2025.
Department for Education, “National curriculum in England: history programmes of study,” National curriculum in England: history programmes of study - GOV.UK Accessed 9th February 2025.
Edinburgh Impact, “Why we need to talk about class in Classics,” Why we need to talk about class in Classics - Edinburgh Impact | The University of Edinburgh Accessed 9th February 2025.
Hall, E., & Stead, H. (2020) A People's History of Classics: Class and Greco-Roman Antiquity in Britain and Ireland 1689 to 1939, (London; New York: Routledge).
Hunt, S. and Holmes-Henderson, A. (2021) “A level classics poverty: classical subjects in schools in England: access, attainment and progression,” CUCD Bulletin 50, 1-26.
Hunt, S. (2024) “Classical Studies Trends: Teaching Classics in secondary schools in the UK,” The Journal of Classics Teaching 25, 198-214.
Medium, “White People Explain Classics To Us,” White People Explain Classics to Us | by Yung In Chae | EIDOLON Accessed 9th February 2025.
University of Warwick, “Warwick Classics Network,” Warwick Classics Network Accessed 15th February 2025.
Varsity, “Whatever happened to Classics?” Whatever happened to classics? | Varsity Accessed 9th February 2025.
References
[1] Edinburgh Impact, “Why we need to talk about class in Classics,” Why we need to talk about class in Classics - Edinburgh Impact | The University of Edinburgh Accessed 9th February 2025.
[2] CUCD Equality, Diversion and Inclusion, “Working-Class Classics: Myths, Stories and Experiences,” Working-Class Classics: Myths, Stories and Experiences – CUCD EDI Accessed 8th February 2025.
[3] CUCD Bulletin, “Classics at UK Universities,” CUCD_BulletinStats_Table A_Overview_2019_2020 FINAL Accessed 10th February 2025.