Chiron's Respect

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Ubiquity: The Journal of Literature, Literacy, and the Arts, Creative Works Strand, Vol.4 No.2, Fall/Winter 2017 Ubiquity: http://ed-ubiquity.gsu.edu/wordpress/ ISSN: 2379-3007

Chiron's Respect

Abstract

Clytemnestra: Did Thetis [mother] or his father raise Achilles?

Agamemnon: It was Chiron, so that he might not learn the ways of evil men.

Clytemnestra: Ah, wise the teacher, and wise still the entruster.

Euripides’s Iphigenia at Aulis (Cameron, 2009, p. 15)

Chiron-the-centaur emerged from the Greek mythology as “the archetypal teacher” (Cameron, 2009, p. 18) esteemed for his education precepts and successes in preparing for future greatness gods and heroes like Achilles, with curricula that included music, medicine, literacy, hunting, and athletics. This project contemporizes the image of Chiron for today’s educator audience, taking its cue from education iconics as an inquiry into “the visual expression of [historical] educational themes” (University of Minnesota College of Education and Human Development, n.d.). New iconography of Chiron is offered in the form of a photo album “capturing” the scenes of Achilles’ education by Chiron, which are staged in Lego and informed by the Achilles silver plate from the Kaiseraugst Treasure. Lego was chosen as a contemporary design material associated with levity, creativity, and learning and came from the old sets belonging to the author’s children. To those struggling with the low social status of the education profession (see, for example, Labaree, 2004) the world of Chiron offers a world of respect.

References

Cameron, A. (2009). Young Achilles in the Roman world. The Journal of Roman Studies, 99, 1- 22.

Welcome to the Virtual Museum of Education Iconics. (n.d.). University of Minnesota College of Education and Human Development. The Virtual Museum of Education Iconics. Retrieved August 26, 2017, from http://iconics.cehd.umn.edu/About/default.html.

Labaree, D. (2004). The trouble with ed schools. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

Ubiquity: The Journal of Literature, Literacy, and the Arts, Creative Works Strand, Vol.4 No.2, Fall/Winter 2017