How an Italian Volcano Changed America

Amy Barr, January 31, 2020, in part originally a June 2012 article for The Old Schoolhouse

Villa San Marco (and the Lukeion Educational Tour group)

Several years ago, I visited our nation’s capital. My kids were still young at the time so standing in line was great for teachable moments lest boredom became an issue. While waiting to see The National Archives an impromptu group of listeners formed as my husband and I, both Classical Archaeologists, explained the neoclassical images ornamenting the building. An eavesdropper remarked, “I didn’t know this art had to do with Greece and Rome!” Almost every artistic element on the building intentionally refers to our two Classical civilizations.

Thomas Jefferson was more than the architect of our Declaration of Independence; he was also fascinated by real architecture as he imagined the construction of our new nation. He gave considerable thought to crafting buildings to last for generations. Jefferson could have recommended the flowery architecture of European cathedrals or the onion-bulb towers of Russia or even down-to-earth austere Colonial style. Instead, he dreamed up enough columns and capitals to make Caesar himself feel at home.

Certainly, our nation’s founders drew inspiration from the Classical world but particularly Roman ideas were brought to the fore in the late 1700s because two factors came to play at that moment in time. First was Jefferson’s brilliant Classical education in both Latin and Greek. Second, was the unearthing of thousands of mysterious things in northern Italy that had remained hidden since the tragic eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in A.D. 79. Essentially, the rediscovery of all things Rome came to light during our nation’s most formative years.

Pliny (the younger) tells us that one warm August day his uncle Pliny (the elder) noticed a strange cloud in the distance near what is today Napoli, Italy. He observed that this cloud was shaped just like a pine tree. If you haven’t been to Italy, you may not know that there, pine trees are shaped like umbrellas. Pliny was grasping for words to describe this event since such a catastrophe had never been witnessed before.  Romans would eventually learn to call this natural disaster a volcano.

Natural curiosity and steadfast Roman bravery would win out over terror on the day of the eruption.  Pliny the elder rushed to help the panicked residents of the area as darkness closed in around him and his military craft. Pliny the younger, however, did not go. His uncle had assigned him a writing project so that 17-year-old decided to finish his schoolwork instead of sailing headlong into an exploding mountain. His uncle would not survive the adventure. He himself would provide one of our only eye witness accounts. 

The eruption would last for three excruciating days. When it was over, what had once been lush vineyards, pleasant hillsides, and thriving towns—most notably Pompeii and Herculaneum—would look lifeless and ashen like the surface of the moon. The dead remained where they fell, utterly forgotten for seventeen centuries.

In 1738 excavations began in Herculaneum, well before archaeology included any science. Workers knew nothing about the events that placed these items in the ground. Mystery added to the beauty of the discoveries. Soon Europe was engrossed with the ruins of Herculaneum and Pompeii, her sister city, discovered in 1749. As workers uncovered perfectly preserved homes, temples, baths, sculptures and paintings, a remarkable thing happened: the world’s imagination was captured by ancient Rome and, by association, ancient Greece. What had once been forgotten now retook center stage in the minds of the best thinkers and doers of that day.

When Thomas Jefferson was ambassador to France from 1784 to 1789, he took a few well-earned breaks. He scoured France looking at her Romanesque architecture, he toured her Roman ruins, and he voraciously read Classical authors (both Latin and Greek) looking for insight, inspiration, and warning.  Having started his Classical education at age 9, he was fluent in Greek, Latin and at least three other languages, skills that would inform every aspect of his career. He too felt the powerful pull of Pompeii and the potent words of Roman authors. Thomas Jefferson and John Adams would work together to craft a constitution with a tripartite system of government which found its roots in Rome. Jefferson himself would introduce the neoclassical style of architecture to the United States.

All this enthusiasm was not just because he thought Roman buildings were majestic, but because he believed that the Roman Republic’s system of checks and balances was a brilliant idea for our new nation. What better model for our architecture?  Ever the student of Roman history, he also knew that a nation must be vigilant lest it topples at the hands of a tyrant as Rome once did.

Intellectual souvenirs from his time in France included his design of the Virginia State Capitol, the University of Virginia, and Monticello, his home. He would suggest the name “Capitol” after the Capitoline hill in Rome and would inspire the plan for our Capitol building modeled on the ancient Pantheon of Rome. So, when you look at it this way, from the ruins of Rome and the ashes of Pompeii would come the enduring structures of our nation. At least in some small way, the tragic end of the cities of Vesuvius would inspire the rise of America.

Succeed at Failure

You Really Can't Succeed Without Some Failure

By Amy E. Barr with The Lukeion Project
An earlier version of this article appeared in The Old Schoolhouse in 2012

As every new school year starts, I will find out interesting tidbits about my students… like how this student is gifted or that student is challenged. All students are expected to complete the same assignments and quizzes on schedule. Here’s the interesting part: many of my gifted students do a superb job until they have a bad week. One or two low quiz scores later and some of my cleverest kids will give up. Meanwhile, my average and challenged students keep going, calmly taking setbacks in stride.

There’s no mystery here. Gifted students tend to be self-critical but as perfectionists even while difficult subjects come easily to them. They rarely meet a mental mountain they can’t climb, so failure is rare. When it does happen, the sting is especially painful. Average and challenged students are more accustomed to academic struggle. A little failure (or at least not highest success) may be on the menu daily for these learners. In turn, they respond more casually to disappointments. Experience tells them that failure isn’t fatal, and life goes on. Consequently, many parents of gifted kids are constantly looking for challenging subjects, not just to avoid boredom but also to maintain a healthy response to adversities.

Enter the study of Classical Latin or Greek: Even if a student has been brought up by a pair of Classics professors, he is not going to be spontaneously brilliant in these challenging topics—just ask my adult kids. Learning Latin or Greek is always a matter of hard work. Success and failure will come to all. Only hard work will mark the difference. This can be earth-shattering to the perfectionist who misinterprets the struggle to learn a tough subject as being “bad” at that subject. It can alternatively become a great opportunity to learn how to succeed at a little failure.

Do you grant lots of do-overs, re-tries, and mulligans? Does your child get second, third, and fourth chances on every academic challenge? Do you set deadlines for academic projects and then move those goals back two or three times? From time to time, all of us unintentionally prevent our children from mastering healthy recovery from failure by shielding them from failures. With the best intentions, we may try to nurture our children so carefully that they don’t suffer a real academic setback prior to college. By then, the first low grade or poor paper may be emotionally crushing and financially costly.

Extra chances, no firm deadlines, and daily do-overs may seem like a great way to teach a subject well—but be careful. Deliberately shielding a student from failure will do measurable damage. Students who should otherwise be flourishing will instead fail to develop confidence, self-esteem, or resilience. Such qualities are the result of a healthy response to, and recovery from, adversity.
Motivational teacher Paul J. Meyer summarized our need for a balance of success and failure with these words: “By seeing the seed of failure in every success, we remain humble. By seeing the seed of success in every failure we remain hopeful.” What can you do to improve healthy failure recovery in your student’s world?

First, if you are your child’s primary educator, check your own teaching habits. If your child learns in a more conventional schooling environment, examine expectations.  Can your student constantly retake quizzes, re-do assignments, and push back deadlines? Firm up expectations and stick to stated consequences.

Second, raise the bar. Increase challenges, set expectations high, and then model healthy recovery when inevitable failures arise. Playing a musical instrument or reading a foreign language (such as Latin and Greek) is terrific at providing challenges, failure recovery, and pride over hard-won success when it comes.

Finally, praise your child for being determined instead of smart. Enthusiastically celebrate the hard work involved in a difficult task. A person’s determination is always a better determination of success compared to natural talent. Everything will come with more practice and more hard work. Success is 80% determination and 20% smarts. All of the latter can be compensated for if one has enough determination.

No matter how smart you are, you’ll experience trial and error, failure and success, good days and bad days. Learning that failure isn’t fatal is the first step toward lifelong success. Provide challenges for yourself (or your learner) so you have the opportunity for a bit of failure every day. Experience failure and then, most importantly, respond to that failure realistically and with determination to push on into growth.

Some Secrets to Academic Success You Should Know

By Amy E. Barr of The Lukeion Project

Three Important Skills to Succeed in Any Class

1.  Read the syllabus

College classes have a syllabus, a document spelling out course expectations, rules, laws, and (hopefully) a schedule of all assignments. At The Lukeion Project, we provide a syllabus for all semester classes, even for our youngest students. A syllabus is an excellent communication tool if students will read it.

Instructors prepare the syllabus with the exactness of a legal document, which it is. A good syllabus spells out everything you should know about a class. Read it with care because we educators are going to stand our ground on what has been communicated in a syllabus. If we state all deadlines are firm, expect firm deadlines. If we specify how things must be turned in, a wise student follows that directive with care or loses points.

The syllabus works to the advantage of both educator and student. If we neglect to include an important detail on the schedule, we are likely to be sympathetic if you miss the item due to an incorrect syllabus.

Educators will fine-tune a syllabus until it includes everything that is important to know about a class. If a syllabus is a single page or 12 pages long, read it. It is obvious when a student has failed to read the syllabus by the mistakes that are made or the types of questions that are asked. When a student doesn’t read the syllabus, the educator might make some unflattering assumptions. Meanwhile, the student leaves a horrible first impression. Read the whole syllabus carefully.

2.  Always Come to Class and be on Time

Aside from the inevitable illness or minor calamity, make every effort to come to every class. As your education becomes more and more expensive (with respect to both personal time and money), increase your zeal for always attending class. To do any less leads your educators to assume you are lazy, disinterested, disorganized, or disengaged. Who wants to be in these categories? When one needs his educator to offer a bit of grace, one’s chances improve greatly if one has been careful with timely attendance. Most importantly, as you progress in your education, you will have already paid for and reserved that dedicated class time. Use it to focus on the material and learn instead of sleeping through it. It won't be easier to focus on that material later while on your own. At all costs, come to class and be on time.

3.  Ask Thoughtful Questions

Is there such thing as a dumb question? We covered the need to avoid questions already answered in the syllabus. Paradoxically, almost all other questions are a good idea in class with the important exceptions that I have listed below. Are you a big question-asker in class? Is that a good thing? Educators nearly always appreciate question askers (unless they are running low on time). Students need not worry they will be considered dumb if they ask questions about the material covered in class. Question-askers are fully engaged in the topic and focused on mastery of the subject. What’s not to like?  There are, however, a few important question-caveats.

Don’t Ask…

• Any non-topical question that is likely answered elsewhere. Read your syllabus or go through a class handout first. Your educator wants to save limited class time (and limited personal time to answer emails) so help her out by not asking due dates and class policies that are stated elsewhere.  
• “Will this be on the quiz?” Class time is precious. Educators rarely waste lecture time on things that don’t matter. Don’t waste even more time by asking that question! Assume everything will be on the quiz and you’ll never miss a thing.
• “Did I miss anything?” (When late or if you miss a class). This question communicates a belief that class time has been meaningless without you! Rather than evoke an annoyed comment from your lecturer with this question, assume you missed many important things and then ask a peer for missed notes AFTER class.
• “When will X, Y, Z be graded?” First, this isn't truly your question. You are actually telling your educator to put aside everything to focus on YOUR grades. Nobody is more eager to finish grading an assignment than your educator. He or she has already skipped meals and sleep to finish grading and preparing for your class. Consequently, this question always comes off as irritating at best, insulting at worst. That’s not how you want your educator to think of you.

Do:

• Stay on-topic. Avoid asking about the weather in Spain when the session is about Latin nouns.
• Rephrase a question or further engage the instructor for a better understanding of the subject. Educators love to engage students fully in the topic at hand.  
• Ask for help if you are confused. It is better to ask for clarification than to miss points. If you’ve done your job by reading the syllabus, textbook, class notes, and a peer, it is time to ask your instructor for help. Sometimes that missing assignment link or confusing page assignment needs to be fixed for everyone anyway.