History

This course is a required course for all freshmen at The Park School and examines major events throughout the ancient world, starting from the origins of agriculture and cities, up until the Middle Ages.  Students will learn the various ways and mediums one can analyze, evaluate, and interpret history, and will be able to present their own historical evaluations of eras and events.  They will also focus on building research skills, developing critical thinking, interpreting primary documents, and effectively presenting their ideas. Specific attention will be given to understanding the GRAPES of civilizations:  Geography, Religion, Achievements, Politics, Economics, and Social Structures, and how these civilizations relate to one another and the impacts they have had on the world we live in today.  

This course will focus on the cultural, economic, political and social developments that have shaped the world from c. 1200 CE to the present.  Some of these events include the Colonization era, the Renaissance, the Industrial Revolution, the Age of Revolutions, World War I and II and more. This course is also an advanced placement class that will culminate in taking an AP exam in May. Students will practice skills that focus on analyzing texts, visual sources, and other historical evidence, and time will be spent writing essays to express historical arguments based on class content. This is a reading and writing intensive course with workload befitting a college-level course.

AP United States History will focus on the history of the United States from the Pre-Columbian era to the present. Students will acquire a broad perspective and understanding of American history and government, along with identifying economic, social, and political developments. This AP course is designed to prepare students for the greatly increased reading, research, and writing demands of college/ university history and political science courses, as well as to successfully complete the AP exam. It is imperative that the students understand how our history affects who we are today and what we will become, both as a nation and a people.

*AP United States History is modeled on college seminars and will be reading and writing intensive. Students will be required to complete the advanced placement exam in May for an opportunity to earn college credit.

This course will provide students with an intensive look at the background, structure, and operation of the United States government and political system.  The objectives are twofold: to achieve success on the year-end AP exam and to better understand the role of the citizen in our government. The required textbook is American Government: Institutions and Policies by Wilson, Dilulio, and Bose.  There will also be numerous supplemental readings from a variety of sources.

This course will begin by exploring the “birthplace” of hominid evolution in Africa (roughly 10 million years ago through the arrival of Homo Sapiens about 300,000 years ago).  Next, students will focus on various ancient cultures and kingdoms that have defined African history, such as the Nubians, the Askumites, West African Kingdoms, Great Zimbabwe and more.  Emphasis will be placed on understanding Africa as a unique continent full of amazing history, cultures, innovations, and more. 

In 2016 the Oxford Dictionaries named “post-truth” the international word of the year, and a majority of U.S. adults – 62% – got news on social media.  How did we get to this point?  This class seeks to examine the development of media politics in an effort to understand how to evaluate media and become effective citizens in our American democracy.  We will examine the change from broadcasting to narrowcasting, the impact of the internet, the news and public opinion, and the media’s agenda setting function.

This course explores how human beings across the globe live and work according to their cultural values and beliefs.  Students will develop tools for acquiring knowledge, awareness, and appreciation of cultural differences, related to identity, ethnicity, race, gender construction, social institutions (family organizations, descent groups, tribal organizations, marriage etc.), and religious institutions. The course accomplishes these aims by examining case studies and cultures from around the world.

This course will introduce students to the history of African Americans from the 16th century to our contemporary society.  We will look into the social, political, economic, and cultural impact of Black Americans on American history.  We will study the experiences of African Americans through the various perspectives of men and women from diverse regions and classes throughout American history.

This course will study the real economic choices and issues students will have to face as adults.  The course works like a semester-long simulation, where students imagine what their life will be like as adults and make all the important economic decisions of their simulated adulthood. Students will investigate their credit rating, the dangers and opportunities of credit cards, how to buy a home, how to evaluate purchases, etc.  

This course is designed to familiarize students with basic economic principles so they may better understand how the economy works and impacts them. Key topics include: the power of markets, incentives, the government and the economy, economics of information, productivity and human capital, financial markets, organized interests and the economy, the Federal Reserve, trade & globalization, and developing economies.

As the presidential election nears, this course is designed to help the prospective voter evaluate candidates for the office.  We will look at characteristics that have been important for past presidential success, different presidential character types and how these personality types lead, and use this information to try to establish clear criteria for presidential success and draw conclusions about the current candidates.  This class will be part psychology, part history, and part political science.  As James David Barber said, “To understand what actual presidents do and what potential presidents might do, the first need is to see the man whole – not as some abstract embodiment of civic virtue, some scorecard of issue stands, or some reflection of a faction, but as a human being like the rest of us, a person trying to cope with a difficult environment.”  This course seeks to do just that.  

This course will explore various religious, political, and philosophical thoughts found in different parts of the world. Students will examine the belief systems of the world’s major religions, as well as influential philosophies of the Eastern and Western hemispheres. Not only will we attempt to understand what people believe and why, but we will also discuss the value and relevance of the ideas we study. Philosophies, belief systems, and religions discussed during the course may vary based on student and teacher interest.