‘The Iliad’ is trash — and other thoughts about education

Editor’s note: This is the fifth in a series of Frank Sanitate’s articles on understanding and reforming education.

Afriend, a former high school principal, lent me her copy of “The Iliad.” After reading a few pages, I called and told her, “ ‘The Iliad’ is trash!” She was somewhat taken aback.

Why did I say this?

Partially for the dramatics of it. But primarily, it illustrates something that seems wrong about how education has been approached for the last 3,000 years!

Britannica tells us “The Iliad” was presumably compiled by a man named Homer about 3,000 years ago, along with “The Odyssey.” It is about the Trojan War. Some of what is annoying to me is that there are a bunch of gods who keep jumping in to save the day. Sometimes it was a demigod, born from a god mating with an earthling.

Frank Sanitate

What is more annoying, besides gods jumping in all the time, is that the story is simply battle after battle. At the end of the first chapter, I thought everything was settled and the Greeks were going home. But no, another battle, then another. It is just boring.

Get on with it!

Britannica goes on to say: “The two epics provided the basis of Greek education and culture in the Classical age, and they have remained among the most significant poems of the European tradition.” It seems our education system is based on English tradition, which is based on Greek tradition. The reason we pay such attention to something so horrible to read is that it was created three millennia ago, and it has been passed down by hundreds of generations of teachers! This one example seems to illustrate the history of education: Old people telling us what is important, because old people told them!

Don’t get me wrong. I am not against old people, being one of them myself. I am opposed to people who don’t do thinking for themselves and don’t help others do the same — whether they are young or old.

Thinking for yourself is the bottom line of education. This is the job of teachers — to help kids do it!

Getting back to “The Iliad”: I recant. It is not trash! It was good for its time. Maybe it is even good for some people in these times — 1,095,000 days later (three millennia times 1,000 years times 365 days)! We do need teachers who tell us things, books that tell us things. But stimulating our own thinking is the best gift a teacher can give.

Unfortunately, most students don’t watch our videos. Instead, teachers tell them that capitalism is a problem. If they don’t hear that in school, they hear it from the media. “If capitalism works ... why does it seem to give such a raw deal?” complains MSNBC’s Ari Melber.

His guest, Michael Moore, eagerly agrees.

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