Is this a good thing, or a bad thing?
I've been told recently that my Latin text (displayed to your right just ostentatiously enough along with a couple of samplings, q.v.) has no particular niche into which it nestles neat 'n nice.
Guilty as charged. It doesn't.
I wrote Via Facilis for my 7th, 8th, and 9th grade students.
Were 12-15 year olds my target learners?
Yes. And no.
I also teach graduate students at City University of New York in the Latin for Reading Knowledge program. Are they my target learners?
Yes. And no.
Who then could learn best from my text?
Anybody who wants to learn, or relearn, Latin.
What age group?
Anybody who wants to learn, or relearn, Latin.
Who is my target audience?
Anybody who wants to learn, or relearn, Latin.
(and Brutus is an honorable man)
What about the best and the brightest?
And they are...?
And the people who determine the identity of "the best and the brightest" are...?
(Rearing its head stage left, the Insidious Suggestion that only those who are most in touch with their mental processes should even hope to attempt so difficult an enterprise.)
All these beg the question:
Is Latin really that tough?
To which the response is:
Does it have to be?
Why?
And so:
To Niche or Not to Niche?
Not.
For a different perspective on what the publishing industry is missing by niche-ing, see my colleague Annette Kramer's learning lab. She's convinced - and is probably right - that although children's editors may have met virtual children, they never have met any actual ones.