History

This yearlong course surveys European history from the era of absolutism and the Enlightenment through the end of the Cold War. Traditional landmarks of the period (the French and Industrial Revolutions, Imperialism and the New Imperialism, and the Great War among them) form the core of our progress through the last three centuries. We also examine smaller and human-sized phenomena, such as the development of the modern family and the changing nature of work. Readings for this class include a text, primary sources, and several brief works on the history of culture and technology. Active participation in class discussions is expected, and students write several short research papers. Open only to grade 12 students.

This semester-long class looks at consumption in history: how we buy and sell, what is made for buying and selling, and what goods mean to a society. The focus is on the period since industrialization, with some emphasis on contemporary America. Readings, discussions, and written assignments will cover topics like advertising, manufacturing, and the depictions of goods in literature and film. In addition, students engage in more focused individual study and research on a topic of their choice and examine their roles as shoppers and consumers.

Like written primary sources, architecture conveys history. In this semester-long class, students will learn to “read” and analyze buildings, and they will read secondary sources about architecture, as well as written primary sources. This course will cover the basics of both Western and non-Western world architecture. Students will learn to look critically at buildings and use the physical structures as evidence to support historical arguments. We will also study developments in architectural theory, as well as city planning, urbanism, and landscape design. A day-long field trip into Philadelphia will reinforce major concepts.Assessment will be based on in-class essays, quizzes, papers, and a final exam. Students will learn to recognize and identify a number of the world’s most important buildings and architectural styles. This course will cover different material than American Architectural History through Philadelphia Buildings, which is offered in the second semester.  

This semester-long course is an exploration of how people came to see and think about Africa as a distinct part of the world. The story is partially the product of three sources: the European slave trade, the creation of a diaspora community in the Americas, and resistance to colonialism in Africa.  The course will explore culture, identity and narratives from the 17th century through the 20th century. A main theme will be the trans-Atlantic dimension of African identity and how people from a variety of backgrounds took stands on issues of social justice and equality both in the Americas and against racist colonial policies in Africa.

(This course has not yet been approved as a core course by the NCAA Eligibility Center. If you intend to participate in Division I or II college athletics, please review your overall course selection with your college counselor before registering for this course.)

This semester-long course is a theme-based introduction to philosophy. The study of philosophy allows students to explore their own views as they encounter many of the ideas from the traditional western canon. We tackle classic questions, such as how we explain existence (ontology) and how we know anything in the first place (epistemology). We also address proof of the existence of God and of the immortality of the soul. We examine selfishness as we do a broad theoretical and practical examination of ethics. Political philosophy is examined, as well as the philosophy of art. Themes are examined historically to see how philosophers have built on each other’s ideas throughout the ages. Our main text, Donald Palmer’s Does the Center Hold? is supplemented by various writings by philosophers from ancient to modern times.  

This semester-long course surveys a number of areas and topics, such as the Middle East, the Korean Peninsula, Iraq, India-Pakistan, and Europe in Transition. The United Nations, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and other international organizations are also studied. The class is divided into groups of two or three students who are jointly responsible for keeping up with developments in a particular area of the world throughout the school year. These regional “desks” provide the basis for classroom activities, including role-plays and simulations, in addition to discussions and presentations. Up-to-the-minute examination of world events provides the ongoing framework; to facilitate this, daily copies of The New York Times act as our “textbook” for this class.

This semester-long course will survey American Architecture with a focus on Philadelphia from colonial times to the present. No city has better specimens of American architecture than Philadelphia, so we will take two or three field trips into Philadelphia. Students will analyze buildings, and they will read secondary sources about architecture, as well as primary written documents. Students will learn to look critically at buildings and use the physical structures as evidence to support historical arguments. Assessment will be based on quizzes, projects, and a class-presentation. We will also study developments in architectural theory, as well as city planning, urbanism, and landscape design. This course will cover different material than History of World Architecture, which is offered in the first semester, so students could take either or both.

This semester-long course covers modern Chinese history, starting with the rise of the Qing Dynasty in the mid-17th century to the end of the 20th/beginning of the 21st century as the Chinese Communist Party shapes and reshapes itself, opening doors to international trade and interaction. It will be a survey course of important internal events in China, as well as foreign interactions, both of which shape China as an independent country and as a player on the world stage.After building the scaffolding of knowledge about events in China, students will use the skills they have already acquired to interpret various primary sources, as well.We will find ways to utilize art, performance, and religion to enhance our understanding. David Kenley’s Modern Chinese History, as well as other secondary sources, will be used. We will also read primary sources, many coming from David G. and Yurong Y. Atwill’s book Sources in Chinese History: Diverse Perspectives from 1644 to the Present.

This semester-long course examines historical issues of race and ethnicity in the United States. This class will explore the many ways in which concepts, discourse, and legislation surrounding race and ethnicity have evolved. The course seeks to deconstruct systems of power that contribute to the problem of racism and identify how the interrogation of race and ethnicity relates to social justice. Students will explore a number of critical topics throughout the class, including how race and ethnicity connect to issues of occupation, incarceration, education, poverty, violence, and labor throughout history. Legislation, judicial case studies about, and media portrayals of racialized populations will be evaluated to develop a strong understanding of the role of institutions in defining how various racial and ethnic communities are seen in the world. Throughout the course, students will engage in debates, simulations, reflective journaling, and community interviews.

This semester-long course will explore the development of independent African states in the aftermath of WWII and some aspects of the complex colonial legacy. This course will address issues of national identity, as well as cultural, social, economic, and political themes. It will also look at Africa’s changing role in the world through the Cold War and its growing significance in 21st century world. Semester one, Creating Africa, is not a prerequisite for this course.

(This course has not yet been approved as a core course by the NCAA Eligibility Center. If you intend to participate in Division I or II college athletics, please review your overall course selection with your college counselor before registering for this course.

This class will roughly follow the grade 11 American History course but focusing on American women, moving from Colonial America to the present day. Along the way, we will look at women’s health, clothing, writing, sexuality, marriage, and activism. We will focus on primary sources that reflect women’s experiences, as well as the movies and documentaries that will give us a clearer sense of what society demanded of women. Our readings will be split between the historical and the present day; we will read a women’s studies text to help us discover what is happening in 2017 America.

This semester-long class considers the origins of the Society of Friends in the nascent consumer culture of 17th century Britain, looking at both the development of the Society itself – the Schism, the growth of programmed Meetings – and examining the world that Friends helped to make: the end of the slave trade and slavery, the development of a distinct Quaker culture in the colony of Pennsylvania, and the strange but important development of the Quaker chocolate industry in Britain. The development of the Society as a force for social justice, particularly in the 20th century, will take up a large part of our work. The 1947 Nobel Peace Prize, and the role of Friends in the anti-nuke and anti-war movements of the late 20th centuries are essential parts of the history.

In this semester-long course, students learn about the craft and evolution of oral history, the impact of digital technology, the most recent methodological issues, and its application to both scholarly research and public presentations. Students research and then conduct original oral history interviews, uncovering and preserving vital history of the mid to late 20th century. To gain understanding of the oral historian’s craft, students read from parts or whole works of prominent

oral history, including Alex Haley’s The Autobiography of Malcolm X and Studs Terkel’s The Good War. Slave narratives from the Federal Writers’ Project and other aspects of the oral folk tradition are taught, as well.

This semester-long course would examine the political, cultural, and intellectual history of America between 1959 and 1974. It considers the Civil Rights Movement, the New Frontier and Great Society, the rise of the New Right, the debate over Vietnam, Second Wave Feminism, the growth of student radicalism, the rise of the Black Power Movement, the counterculture, the urban crisis, and white backlash. Students will work to understand the major movements of the decade and the “rise and call” relationship between the movements and a society’s reluctance to accept change. Historians have called the 1960s “the decade you can listen to,” which demonstrates the fact that much of the 1960s could be studied using media, including television news, movies, and music.

In this second part of Resistance and Reconciliation, we take a more contemporary approach than Resistance and Reconciliation I. Students will continue to examine changes in discourse surrounding race and ethnicity, as well as investigate powerful culturally-based resistance movements such as the Arab Spring, Black Power Movement, United Farm Workers Movement, Young Lords, Native Hawaiians’ fight for independence, and the Black Lives Matter Movement. Throughout the course, students will engage in debates, simulations, reflective journaling, and community interviews. The course will culminate with the completion of a community action project that focuses on a particular issue discussed in class. Resistance and Reconciliation I is not a prerequisite for this course.