Career Profiles

Career Profiles

Classics

Why study Classics?
Because echoes from the ancient civilisations of Greece, Rome, and other Mediterranean cultures remain deeply embedded in our modern consciousness and every day, one way or another, we live in the thick of their cultural legacy which underpins our government and legal systems. It informs the way we think and organise our knowledge about ourselves and the world. It reaches into the artistic and technological achievements we take such delight in. The classical past is not dead, it lives and breathes and walks with us all the time. To understand this is to have an advantage in the modern world.

The Greek and Roman civilisations grappled, at least in principle, with many of the issues that confront us today. Their solutions, for better orworse, provide reference points around which contemporary concerns, such as globalisation and free trade, can be discussed. The study of Classics is both relevant and resonant. Classicalculture provides advertisers with a universally understood image that signals quality and exclusiveness. Celebrity, which seems such a modern phenomenon, is simply a carry-over from the hero cults that first found expression in the myths and legends of the ancient Greeks. And for those disenchanted with the commercial culture that pervades modern life, the classical world provides an alternative social vista.

What skills do Classics graduates have?
Classics graduates know how to think. In an ever-shifting job market, the ability to think in abstract terms is not only one of the most desirable transferable skills, it is also one of the most reliable predictors of success on the job. A trained mind can be applied to any situation.

The skills of a mind trained in the classical tradition include:

• Strategic and tactical thinking - the ability to anticipate likely outcomes from hypothetical situations.
• Systematic analysis - the ability to work methodically through information separating what is relevant from what is not.
• Critical judgement - the ability to prioritise information, which leads to effective decision-making.
• Political awareness - an understanding of how power differentials between groups and individuals are used to achieve desired outcomes.
• The ability to construct a logical argument.
• The ability to identify cause and effect.
• The ability to spot the difference between rhetoric and substance.
• The ability to discriminate between events and the personalities of people who influence those events.
• Broadened perspectives from comparing othercivilisations with ourown.

Download a complete copy of Career View on Classics below.

Career View on Classics is part of the Career View series produced by Career Development and Employmentat Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand. While the booklet was originally developed for a New Zealand audience, we believe that graduates in Australia will also find the information within it relevant and useful.