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Curriculum
History
Graduation Requirement:
3 years (This must include World
History and US History)
WORLD HISTORY: RENAISSANCE TO
PRESENT
(one year)
This course surveys the most
important events and
developments in world history
from 1450 to the present. The
global
impact of revolution, the growth
of commerce, industrialization,
imperialism, world wars, peace,
and the present world
provide the focuses of study.
A required course for students
in grade nine, Class of 2009
and beyond.
WORLD HISTORY: ENLIGHTENMENT TO
PRESENT
(one year)
This course surveys the most
important events and
developments in world history
from 1750 to the present. The
global impact of revolution,
industrialization, imperialism,
world wars, peace, and the
present world provide the
focuses
of study.
A recommended course for
students in grade ten, Class of
2008.
HONORS WORLD HISTORY:
ENLIGHTENMENT TO PRESENT
(one year)
The Honors World History class
studies modern world history
from the Enlightenment through
the twentieth century. In the
first semester, students examine
the major pattern and
developments of the 17th and
18th centuries, including
enlightenment, revolution, and
industrialization. In the
second semester students examine
the major events and
issues that contribute to the
understanding of the history of
the 19th and 20th centuries,
including nationalism,
imperialism, and the world wars.
Emphasis will be on
historical writing, analysis of
primary sources, as well as
group and individual projects.
Prerequisite: Departmental
approval.
An elective course for students
in grade ten.
UNITED STATES HISTORY
(one year)
This course focuses on the
political, economic, geographic,
social, and cultural
developments of United States
history
from Reconstruction to the
Persian Gulf War. The course
will
closely examine how the United
States Constitution has
offered protection and a sense
of national purpose throughout
our history. Semester one covers
the foundations of the
Constitution, Reconstruction and
the Jim Crow South, the
conquest of the West, the Gilded
Age, imperialism, the Great
Depression, and the world wars.
Semester two covers the Cold
War, Civil Rights, the social
and cultural upheavals of the
1960s and 1970s, the Vietnam
War, the Nixon Years and
Watergate, the Ford and Carter
presidencies, the Iranian
Hostage Crisis, the Reagan
presidency, and the Persian Gulf
War.
A required course for students
in grade eleven.
ADVANCED PLACEMENT MODERN
EUROPEAN HISTORY
(one year)
This course provides a
chronological survey of the
facts and
concepts of modern European
history from 1450 to the
present. Students develop an
understanding of the principal
themes in modern European
history and learn to analyze
historical evidence. A textbook,
supplementary books, and
copies of original documents
help students explore the
cultural, economic, and
political aspects of modern
European
history. Upon completion,
students take the Advanced
Placement examination in Modern
European History.
Prerequisite: World Civilization
to 1750 or equivalent and
departmental approval.
An elective course for Upper
School students.
ADVANCED PLACEMENT HUMAN
GEOGRAPHY
(one year)
AP Human Geography is a
“systematic study of the
patterns and
processes that have shaped human
understanding, use, and
alteration of the earth’s
surface.” This course will
examine
demographic, physical, economic,
political, and social
characteristics of human
populations in order to grasp
the
broader patterns throughout the
world. Students should gain an
ability to synthesize diverse
criteria to make complex and
subtle
evaluations of cultures. The
course views human geography
through a regional approach, so
students gain a very specific
knowledge of a variety of
countries. Upon completion,
students
take the Advanced Placement
examination in Human Geography.
Prerequisite: departmental
approval.
An elective course for Upper
School students.
ADVANCED PLACEMENT UNITED STATES
HISTORY
(one year)
This course treats our Nation’s
past both chronologically and
thematically by examining the
political, economic, social, and
cultural issues that make up the
American experience.
Students use a textbook,
supplementary books, and primary
sources to develop a critical
analysis of the history of the
United States based on informed
judgment. There is extensive
use of primary source material
requiring essay responses.
Upon completion, the student
takes the Advanced Placement
examination in American History.
Although not a prerequisite,
the department strongly
recommends that students take
AP Modern European History or
World History Honors to
prepare for this course.
Prerequisite: departmental
approval.
An elective course for Upper
School students.
ADVANCED PLACEMENT AMERICAN
GOVERNMENT
(one year)
This course provides an in-depth
study of the foundations and
functions of the American system
of government as it relates to
the major political systems of
the world today. During the
first
semester, the course focuses on
the background and creation of
American government. In the
second semester, students turn
to
examine government in action.
First, students examine the
machinery of government,
including staffs, bureaucracy,
the
media, special interest groups,
and political parties. Then,
they
examine the role of government
in civil and human rights, the
economy, health care, the
environment, and foreign policy.
Upon completion of this course,
students take the Advanced
Placement examination in
American Government.
Prerequisite: departmental
approval.
An elective course for students
in grade twelve.
ADVANCED PLACEMENT WORLD HISTORY
(one year)
AP World History is a senior
seminar. The course builds on an
understanding of the cultural,
institutional, and technological
precedents that, along with
geography, set the human stage.
We
will focus on several
overarching themes: Interaction
between
major societies, change and
continuity over time, the impact
of
technology and demography on
people and their environment,
systems of social structure
(including gender), cultural and
intellectual developments,
interactions among and within
societies, and the changes in
functions and structures of
states.
Upon completion, students take
the Advanced Placement
examination in World History.
Prerequisite: departmental
approval.
An elective course for students
in grade twelve.
ANTHROPOLOGY
(spring semester only)
This one semester course is a
naturalistic description and
interpretation of the diverse
peoples of the world, literate
and
pre-literate. Both individual
and collective patterns of human
behavior are studied to increase
an understanding of cultural
differences today. Students also
compare the specialization of
the body, in conjunction with
the modifications of behavior
and the environment that have
become survival adaptations
for our species.
An elective course for students
in grade twelve.
CONSTITUTIONAL LAW
(fall semester only)
Constitutional Law focuses on
the role that the Constitution
of
the United States has played in
defining our legal world.
Through a study of the
Constitution itself and numerous
Supreme Court cases, the course
strives to illustrate how the
establishment of certain
“inalienable” rights and
changing
times has created today's legal
framework. This course strives
to provide students with an
opportunity to examine the
Constitution of the United
States as a document of
fundamental law as well as an
organic entity changing and
adjusting to the complexities
and peculiarities of the times.
Through this examination the
course strives to provide a
basis
from which students will be able
to evaluate and analyze
Constitutional issues of today
and the future. The course is
primarily discussion oriented
although on occasion this format
will be altered to allow for
lectures, guest speakers and
films.
Students will be expected to
come to class prepared to engage
in meaningful discussion about
the reading and the issues
being raised. Students will be
evaluated on the quality of
their
participation in class
discussions, a mid-term and
final exam
or project, at least three
assigned essays and periodic
quizzes.
An elective course for students
in grade twelve.
CONTEMPORARY UNITED STATES
HISTORY
(fall semester only)
This course focuses on major
developments from World War II
to the present. America’s
foreign policy, the Cold War,
Civil
Rights, and the impact of the
Vietnam War on American
society are assessed. This
course offers a critical and
systematic
analysis of the events that have
profoundly affected the
national scene.
An elective course for students
in grade twelve.
ECONOMICS
(one semester)
This course concentrates on the
basic principles of economics
and the individual’s role as
consumer, producer, and
investor.
Students develop an
understanding of economic
vocabulary as
well as the principles of supply
and demand, monetary policy,
the use of resources, and the
national economy. Finally, the
role of free
enterprise/capitalism is
discussed in relation to
other nations’ economic
policies.
An elective course for students
in grade twelve.
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