Clearly the Middle East is an extremely important part of the contemporary political world, but too many Americans have little understanding of the area.  This course will help give students a sense of contemporary issues in the Middle East, and how the area’s history informs those issues.  Beginning with a brief introduction to Islam, the course will cover the major developments in the area since the decline of the Ottoman Empire with a particular focus on Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, and Israel/Palestine.  While the class will focus on political history, the readings will primarily be memoirs to help give the history a human face and to give students a more textured sense of life in this part of the world.

A small class for students new to the research process, Research Skills shows how to gather data, determine main ideas and supporting details, take notes, cite, translate information and create presentations. The course culminates with students’ individual presentations to the class.

An important part of each student’s junior year is the Junior Thesis and Project. The thesis is an opportunity for independent research, creative expression, and learning how to plan and execute a long-term project. Students pick a topic that interests them and spend much of the year researching and writing an ambitious paper about it. Additionally, students are asked to produce a creative piece to complement their academic work. Thesis topics have included the history and practice of ballet, the work of the controversial director Elia Kazan, the tradition and significance of Japanese tea ceremonies, and the history of the Middle East. Creative projects have ranged from staging original one-act plays to doing dance demonstrations to preparing a special meal for the entire school.

To understand where we are, we have to know where we came from, and much of American culture has European roots. This course will survey the intellectual and cultural heritage of Europe, starting with the Early Middle Ages and continuing through the present. It will draw from Art, Literature, Philosophy, Music and Religion to give students a fuller sense of the development of European ideology and culture. Although it will be a full-year survey, it will be divided into semesters, and students can take either semester by itself. The first will focus on the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, including the Renaissance, the Reformation and the Enlightenment. The Spring will begin with the French Revolution and will continue up to the present, addressing industrialization, romanticism, imperialism, and the principal social, intellectual, artistic and political movements of the 19th and 20th centuries. (open to seniors)

How did the United States end up like this? That is the basic question of this course. But also: how do we know what has happened in the past, in this place? And: did it have to happen that way? And finally: why does it matter? Historians Lisa McGirr and Eric Foner have called U.S. history an act of “collective self-discovery,” and that will be our mission. To work together to understand the place where—for better and for worse—we all currently live. Our studies will take us from the first peopling of the land over 10,000 years ago to the current day, with a focus on the United States since its founding in the 18th century. We will also regularly interrupt our chronology to study civic and political institutions in this country today, as well as the role of the historian in recording, studying, shaping, manipulating, publicizing, remembering, memorializing, celebrating, lamenting, telling, and retelling America’s past for America’s present.

This course aims to provide students with the opportunity to explore, examine, analyze, discuss, and understand major domestic and international issues that affect our society today in a meaningful and respectful way. Subjects may include immigration, health care, gun control, abortion rights, trade, climate change, prison reform, refugees crises and so on. Throughout the course, we will keep up to date on current events and trends. Though the class is mainly discussion-based, we will read about contemporary topics through different media sources and outlets and learn about media biases. You will also independently research an issue of your choice and lead a presentation and a discussion for the class. The goals of this course are: to help us become aware of and literate in societal issues, to encourage us to be informed, global citizens, and to enhance our ability to think critically for ourselves.