High School History

The High School history curriculum engages students in a thoughtful, comprehensive study of the past. It provides students with a solid historical foundation and helps them to gain a better understanding of the world in which they live. Great emphasis is placed on the various forces that have helped to shape the modern world: economic, intellectual, social, cultural, political and technological. Independent inquiry constitutes an integral part of each history class, and students analyze different historical interpretations through extensive reading, debate, and discussion. Students are always encouraged to formulate their own informed opinions of the past.
Three years of history are required for graduation. This requirement is currently met through one year of World history in grade nine that completes the sequence from seventh and eighth grades, and a two-year sequence of United States history in grades ten and eleven. In grade twelve, the history program offers elective courses.

Grade 9 - World History: In our one-year survey of world history, we consider the factors that lead societies to make (or stumble into) decisions that shape the patterns of development that define the world for succeeding generations. We discuss the ways in which intercultural contact and exchange have created the world we have inherited. Our time frame is the last fifteen hundred years. Aspects of our survey includes both traditional and non-traditional elements of world history, including the politics, economics, art, religion, literature, philosophy, and/or lay culture of a variety of civilizations and societies. Topics may include the fall of Rome, the rise of Islam, the emergence of the Indian Ocean trade network, the Tang-Sung “Golden Age,” the Crusades, the Mongol invasions, the Renaissance, the Reformation, colonialism, imperialism, the Industrial Revolution, the rise of capitalism, the rise of communism, decolonization, and the emergence of the contemporary world. Students are guided toward developing the skills of historical analysis, as applied to classroom discussions, formal essays, and creative projects. Primary sources constitute a major part of the materials we use, and learning to read them critically is one of the central skills students develop in this course. This is an activity- and discussion-based class and regular participation is as important as regular completion of homework and projects.

Grade 10 - United States History: The survey of United States history is covered in two years, beginning in the sophomore year. The first year is a comprehensive study of U.S. history through the Reconstruction. Students are expected to acquire mastery of the significant political, diplomatic, economic intellectual and social trends of U.S. history. Topics may include a comparison of Spanish, French and British settlement of the Americas; the economic, political and social development of colonial America; the American Revolution; the Constitution and the New Republic; the Market Revolution; nineteenth-century reforms; Jacksonian Democracy; antebellum reform; Manifest Destiny; Causes of the Civil War and Reconstruction. Students engage in critical thinking by researching and debating major historical questions, using both primary and secondary sources. Using historical inquiry as a tool, students focus on writing, research, critical thinking and reading skills.

Grade 11 - United States History: The second year of the survey is a comprehensive study of U.S. history from the end of Reconstruction through the twentieth century. Students are expected to acquire mastery of the significant political, diplomatic, economic, intellectual and social trends of U.S. history. Topics may include the rise of industrialization and labor movements in the late-nineteenth century, American imperialism, the Progressive era, US involvement in World War I, the Roaring Twenties, the Great Depression, World War II, the Cold War, Vietnam, and Watergate. Students engage in critical thinking by researching and debating major historical questions, using both primary and secondary sources, including those specific to the study of the twentieth century (motion pictures, radio, television, recorded music, etc.). Using historical inquiry as a tool, students focus on writing, research, critical thinking and reading skills.

Advanced Placement United States History: Students may choose to take AP U.S. History in their sophomore year. The AP United States History is a two-year course beginning in the tenth grade. The course is a comprehensive survey of U.S. history that covers the recommended AP curriculum in preparation for the AP U.S. History exam. Students are expected to acquire mastery of the significant political, diplomatic, economic, intellectual, and social trends in U.S. history. The course emphasizes written analysis, thesis development and understanding the historiography of a given era in preparation for the open response section of the AP exam.
Electives (for Grade 12)

A History of International Film: (full year - 1 credit): Film History focuses upon the relationship between popular culture and social and political issues. The goals are to construct a social history of the 20th century, and to develop critical viewing and thinking skills. Through film screenings and readings the class will look at films from around the world spanning the entire twentieth century, and investigate what can be learned from these films about both the people who made them and the audiences that went to see them.

The main text for the course is The Story of Film: A Worldwide History by Mark Cousins (Thunder’s Mouth Press, 2006). The book explores major trends in various national cinemas, how contemporary events influenced filmmakers, how filmmakers influenced each other, and how established techniques were challenged and new technologies were developed. The text will be supplemented by other scholarly, critical, and historical texts.

Students are required to keep a film journal for the duration of the course. This serves not only as their notebook for the class (with their notes on both the readings and screenings associated with the class) but as a viewing journal in which they write a brief paragraph on any movies or television programs they watched on their own. The aim of the viewing journal is to develop critical viewing skills. The students also write a formal weekly reflection (2-3 pages) in which they consider the film we viewed for the class in the context of the reading we did that week, and in the context of the historical period in which the film was made.

Contemporary Issues in Ownership and Stewardship of Land: (full year - 1 credit):

• Collapse: Histories of Sustainability and Environmental Degradation: What happened to the Greenland Norse? Why did the great Mayan civilization collapse centuries before the Spaniards arrived? How can we explain the sudden disappearance of the Anasazi? These are not simple questions to answer, and surely any one solution would be reductive. Even so, all three of these cultures, and countless others, declined and even disappeared as they rendered their local ecosystems unsuitable for the lifestyles they embraced. Long before the arrival of modern technology, human beings were already capable of dramatically altering and undermining ecosystems. In some cases, they recognized the danger and radically changed their practices before it was too late (Tokugawa Japan, Iceland, etc.). Today, we face similar challenges on both the local and, for the first time, the global level. This course will examine the lessons, positive and negative, of past cultures to help us understand our present day challenges and our hopes for rising to meet them, locally and globally.
  
• Jericho’s Walls: The Palestinian-Zionist Conflict from 1917 to the Present: In 1917, in the waning days of WWI, the British Parliament issued the Balfour Declaration, promising a “Jewish National Home” in Palestine. The problem was, Palestine was not empty. Competing claims for the land have embroiled Israel/Palestine in an endless cycle of violence, often involving other countries, and potentially posing a threat to the entire world. In the present moment, Israel is a major nuclear power and the non-state Palestinian Authority is dominated by the militant Islamist group Hamas. How did we get here, and where might we go? This will be a discussion based class. The reading load will be considerable and, sometimes, controversial. All viewpoints are welcome, but all interested students must be willing to engage in open, tolerant, critical discussion.

Economics: (full year - 1 credit): The course covers the fundamental concepts of economics, together with an introduction of the history and functioning of financial institutions. There will be a reliance on case studies highlighting current economic issues – these will be global, cross-cultural, national and local. The aim is to dig behind the current newspaper headlines, in order to try to grasp the longer term significance of the ever-increasing volume of available information.

Politics and Culture in a Global Age: (full year - 1 credit):

• A History of Technology in Modern Culture: Technology is a defining feature of our modern world, but how do we assess its profound impact on human experience? This course investigates the modern history of machines--steam engines, machine guns, elevators, vacuum cleaners, rockets, and robots, to name a few—by looking at the various philosophical, political and cultural responses they have provoked. Among the questions we will consider are how technology has challenged our definition of reality, altered our notions of power, and changed the way we interact with the world. We will look at the science as well as the science fiction of modern technology. Students will be introduced to a wide-range of resources drawn from historical, philosophical, and literary texts, as well as popular culture and art. At the same time, students will be encouraged to pursue the directions of inquiry of most interest to them.
  
• Art History: This course examines works of art in different historical and cultural contexts, with special attention to providing a global perspective on how we perceive and judge art. In addition to learning “how to look” at art, students focus on using visual analyses as the basis for thinking and writing critically about historical issues and events. Examples of the types of questions we will consider are: How does the very different appearance of art in Islam, China, and Europe relate to different traditions and beliefs? How do images sustain those in power? How do changes in artistic styles over time reveal (or conceal) changes in political, economic, and social relationships? How is the “strangeness” of much modern art a response to the strangeness of life in a modern, industrialized world?
  
  Although this is a course about art, students should expect frequent writing assignments.

World Religions: (full year - 1 credit): Religion plays an essential role in history, culture, society, and the arts. To understand these at a sophisticated level, students must be able to identify, analyze, and understand religious symbols, texts, practices, and beliefs. The academic study of religion enables students to do this by providing a methodology for understanding how humans make meaning of their experience across and within different cultures. As an introductory course, students will learn about the world’s great religions: Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam through class readings, discussions, fieldtrips, guest speakers, and various media. Students are invited to produce a major project each trimester that reflects their interest in religion and how it informs their understanding of the arts, history, philosophy, science, culture, the environment, or a geographic area.