Tom Devine.....
.... is studying Classics and Modern Languages, one of the joint schools available at Oxford (along with Classics and English, Classics and Oriental Studies and Ancient and Modern History). He attended Norwich School, an independent day school. He had a lot of possible options for university degree, but settled on Latin and French:
" I considered studying quite a few arts subjects at university, including Law, English and Modern Languages. I had always wanted to do French but wanted to match it with something which had as much depth. Latin got a lot more interesting in the sixth form when it began to be more like English but with better sounding poetry. Somehow also the approach to the study of a whole civilization works much better from a distance. Classics seems more grounded and scientific than contemporary studies. At Oxford the excitement of very big ideas (and some very little ones too) is really fostered. Even the exams are a useful focus rather than a tedious hoop to jump through. I think we covered the equivalent of the Latin and French A-level syllabuses in the first fortnight, which made the whole enterprise so much more interesting, and unlike A level you're working independently. The volume of work, if you can be bothered, means that you come away with at least the seeds of a meaningful synthesis in your own mind, which I can't see happening on two essays a term."
Tom is in the second year of the three year Classics and Modern Languages course (he may take a year abroad between the second and third year). He is confident about his prospects after Oxford. Again he has a number of options, law, the civil service, a postgraduate degree, but he has no doubt that his degree will set him in very good stead:
"All arts subjects justify themselves by asserting that they give you critical reasoning and essay skills, but classics mixes linguistic, historical, aesthetic plus lots of other -itics and -icals to give you the most versatile framework for everything you think about, from modern novels to the Middle East to God; most importantly you get lots of practice at examining what other people think and how they convey that. Employers treasure these skills. And it's not only good for my future, it's fascinating too - you're better off, it seems to me, with a good degree in something you like than with a boring three years and a bad result at the end of it in a supposedly vocational subject, if only because you'll be a more interesting person. And I'm planning to claim I can speak French too."
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Last updated:
February 15, 2007.
Ioannou Centre for Classical and Byzantine Studies, 66 St Giles', Oxford, OX1 3LU.