De Senectute: Cicero's Advice on Saving Classics Departments

Abstract

ABSTRACT:Classics, along with other subjects in the Humanities, is under threat in American universities because of declining enrollments. Some of the drop can be blamed on the current emphasis on STEM as students' best option to secure their future. There is generally, though, a major demographic shift: there are simply few college-age (18-25) students than there once were. This article uses ideas captured from Cicero's de Senectute to suggest that college humanities departments create programs for retirees and senior citizens that could leverage the much larger numbers of this demographic group to bolster enrollments while enriching all students' learning experience.