Essay - Although We Have all Been Told Repeatedly, and Indeed Many...

Although we have all been told repeatedly, and indeed many of us believe to be true, that there is nothing new under the sun, it is nevertheless always a little startling ***** find that *****sues ***** ***** consider to be thoroughly modern have in fact been being disc*****sed for thous*****s of years. This is the case when one reads Aristophanes's The Clouds, which is a very witty indictment of new educational ideas in vogue during his lifetime in Athens.

***** makes this work so entertaining - other than the language itself, which we can appreciate even in translation ***** is the fact Aristophanes has a gift for allowing us to see the real silliness of ***** ways in which education and pedagogy are politicized. This play is not simply a debate about the best way in which to teach the youth of Athens. Rather, it is ***** how different groups holding power in Athenian *****ciety ***** gain power and status for themselves (and the other aspects of their political agenda) by promoting various ********** programs that will favor them.

***** is, of course, exactly what happens *****day. People who want schools to teach only about abstinence and not about birth control are interested ***** ***** in ***** particular aspect ***** school curricula but also about press*****g a socially and politically conservative ***** in general - and ***** using the cover of pedagogical reform to do so. Likewise, those who wish ***** see conflict-resolution taught in schools are not simply interested in helping students learn how to minimize conflicts and arguments in the hallways but are ***** in ***** a range of politically progressive causes.

While education is, of course, important, it is also ***** to remember ***** ********** policy ***** simply politics - and sometimes war - by other means. Because of the specificity ***** the comments in ***** play about the advocates of particular educational philosophies as well ***** because ***** the similarities between the politico-educational situation that Aristophanes is describing ***** our own political situation three weeks before an important election, I believe that ***** intended his ***** to be an indictment of ***** general level of immaturity ***** existed in the adults who were overseeing ***** education of the youth of A*****ns.

***** is ***** ***** to ***** an abstract commentary on something that might happen in some society somewhere else ***** rather a specific description ***** (*****d in ***** ways a discrediting of as well) ***** elements of ***** society. I am quite sure that ***** people who were sitting in the audience listening to the play when it was first performed were aware of ***** dyn*****ics of the way in which the play reflected the ***** ***** the day and knew precisely to whom Aristophanes was referring.

It is perhaps ***** to take a moment here to note that although we moderns tend ***** think first of tragedy when ***** ***** about Greek theater (this may well result from the ***** ***** most of the