And now I'm conflicted.
Laughing at a Latin joke - bad for working class credentials
No, no, _no_. It _is_ funny and since when did knowing Latin or anything else for that matter make anyone a "class traitor"? Think on the Workers' Education Association and Ruskin College (1) and $deity$ knows how many working class auto-didacts. There are many, many things wrong with British attitudes, but the, "I am working class therefore I have no right to be intelligent nor to be well educated and furthermore I must work resolutely and unceasingly to remain uneducated and fit only for the most menial employment." mindset must be one our very worst failings. That attitude makes my blood boil. Almost as much as the decades long and persistent underinvestment in state education and the recent gutting of the arts and creative subjects in state schools makes me want to visit mediaevel levels of violence on those responsible for it; especially that arch-hypocrite and enthusiastic promulgator of austerity, Gideon.
[1]
This from Ruskin's web-site.
"Our founders understood that education is power.
Founded in 1899 at a time of ferment in political and educational ideas, Ruskin College aimed to provide university-standard education for working class people to empower them to act more effectively on behalf of working class communities and organisations such as trade unions, political parties, co-operative societies and working men's institutes."