Non Greek-born Students Excel In Learning Ancient Greek

The Ancient Greek language is still being taught in some of Australia’s high schools. Surprisingly, the majority of the small number of students following this course are not Greek-born.

Every year, at the VCE exams in Victoria, the best results in the Ancient Greek language course are being achieved by non-Greek students.

This year, Chinese-born Cheung Andrian from the state Balwyn High School achieved the highest mark in Ancient Greek and was followed by Farley Simon from the private Xavier College Kew.

In the meantime, the number of students taking Modern Greek exams remained rather low. According to the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority, this year 246 students have been examined in the Modern Greek language, which is a rather disappointing rate given the total number of Greek-born students entering the VCE exams.

Greek-Australian teachers commented that the declining trend of the past years is continuing its way, which is a highly disturbing fact for the future of the academic departments of Greek Studies.