Form A Geography approaches global studies through several disciplines—physical geography, politics, history, culture, and some basic economics. The course intentionally focuses on the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and Latin America, and the Caribbean. One goal is for the students to develop map literacy, and usually one day a week is devoted to a “cartography lab” utilizing various map materials. Much attention is also paid to learning to effectively study a very sophisticated yet very organized content-area textbook, and the boys take regular quizzes and tests on material in the text. Most of the homework assignments involve “note making” assignments in which the boys “study and make notes” in reference to a few pages in the textbook on almost a daily basis. The boys also read and study several young adult novels throughout the year, and their plots revolve around young people in crisis situations in various regions of the world. At the end of the year, each boy chooses a nation and creates a “travel paper” in which a person simulates a trip to this nation. The student must demonstrate accurate knowledge of varied aspects of the nation in his travel paper. The order of each unit studied in class may sometimes depend on particular events in the world at the time, and current issues and events around the world become part of class discussion on a regular basis.

Course Length: All Year
Registration Policy: Required for Form A

The goal of this course is to introduce the Classical civilizations of the Mediterranean. We will focus mainly on the cultures and history of both Greece and Rome; however, any attempt to narrowly learn about these two to the exclusion of the other cultures, civilizations, and empires who interacted with them would not only be impossible, but foolish. Therefore, we will also spend time learning about the Egyptians, Persians, Carthaginians, Indians, and the peoples of Mesopotamia. We will learn what history is, how the ancients viewed history, and how their views on history evolved into what we know today.

Course Length: All Year
Registration Policy: Required for Form I

The course concentrates on the characteristics of American History: a combination of histories including military, social, technological, artistic, religious, and mythological. The students will be studying a variety of themes separately in addition to a mélange of events and personalities. The students will recognize seemingly disparate historic trends and concepts as being the colorful American experience. There will be a number of 3 -5-page papers throughout the year. The students will be able to use their imaginations with various posed scenarios as well as acquire the skills to write research papers.

Course Length: All Year
Registration Policy: Required for Form II

This course is designed to help students develop a fundamental understanding of the evolution and interactions of human societies. In studying the development of human civilization from prehistory to the year 1500, we will focus on environmental, economic, and sociopolitical themes which help us to recognize patterns of historical change and causation.

Traditional history courses tend to focus only on peoples relevant to the progression of “western civilization,” such as the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans. In this course—which is, after all, a history of the world, and not merely western Eurasia—we will adopt a much more global perspective. We must always be conscious of how events do not occur only in their own isolated periods and places, but rather in the context of patterns and processes that recur across time and space. This global perspective will allow us to address “essential questions” that remain applicable in modern life: how should we think about and evaluate our relationship with the environment? What makes a civilization “legitimate?” Who gets to decide on this definition? How do we know what we know? How do we evaluate evidence and arguments? Where have we been as humans and how does this tell us where are we going?

Course Length: All Year
Registration Policy: Required for Form III

This is a continuation of AP World History. It follows the same guidelines as with AP World History I. The students are then well prepared for taking the AP World History Exam at the end of the year.

Course Length: All Year
Registration Policy: Required for Form IV

This course involves studying the establishment, development, and evolution of American society and its institutions (political, religious, economic, etc.) from 1607 to the 1980’s.It is a college-level course, utilizing a number of texts, and requiring extensive reading, research, and analysis. As a preparatory course for the US Advanced Placement test, there are tests and quizzes modeled on the AP exam. However, we don’t teach to the test – the purpose of the course is to ground students in the fundamentals of the American Experience (the virtues and ideologies, the individuals and communities, the status quo and expressions of liberty), learn to recognize cant, and to gain skills in analysis and interpretation of texts. O ne semester fulfills part of the American Studies requirement & two semesters completely fulfill the requirement. Two semesters provide the student with a solid grounding for the AP Examination.

Course Length: All Year
Registration Policy: Open to Forms V & VI;

This one-semester course will provide an extensive overview and analysis of the structure and function of the American Government. Students will be introduced to the historical context and constitutional underpinnings of the government’s founding, as well as the on-going conflicts and controversies that have shaped American Government up through modern times. Topics covered in the class will be the Constitution and its framing, Congress, the Presidency, the Judicial Branch, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, and Elections. Students who wish to continue their study of American Government may take U.S. Constitutional Law & Politics in the Spring Semester, with the permission of the department.

Course Length: 1 Semester
Registration Policy: Elective for Forms V & VI

The course will study in some detail six major representative political systems, those of Great Britain, Russia, China, Nigeria, Mexico, and Iran. These systems will serve as a basis for a general study of political science and theories of government. Comparisons will be made to the American system.

Course Length: 1 Semester
Registration Policy: Elective for Forms V & VI

This is a one semester course leading to the Advanced Placement Exam. The course provides a thorough study of basic economic principles emphasizing the American economy. An effort is made to apply this concept to the real world through extensive use of newspaper and magazine articles concerning current economic situations. This course is a one semester credit in American Studies. As an AP course credit, both semesters of Economics must be completed – the second semester course alone (Microeconomics) is not a credit for American Studies.

Course Length: 1 Semester
Registration Policy: Elective for Forms V & VI

This one-semester course is an extensive study of basic microeconomic principles. Major focus will be on supply and demand analysis, the study of firms’ production decisions, categorization of market structures, and resource allocation decision-making.

Course Length: 1 Semester
Registration Policy: Elective for Forms V & VI

This one semester course is a survey of the Middle East in which we examine the series of conflicts which began to scar the region in 1948. We examine the early histories of each country, and explore how a region of such cultural, linguistic, religious and ethnic diversity has been so volatile as centuries-old patterns have been challenged and new nations have been constructed. The course is reading–intensive and requires the students to produce a major research paper that is of college-level quality.

Course Length: 1 Semester
Registration Policy: Elective for Forms V & VI

This course will study issues of the contemporary world which shapes relations between states. Focusing on the world since 1945 (but with regular references to earlier history) the course will examine issues affecting major areas of the world which are currently manifesting tensions and developing problems. Major concepts such as balance of power, paradigms of world order; factors in globalization as well as foreign policy construction will be addressed.

Course Length: 1 Semester
Registration Policy: Elective for Forms V & VI

This course will trace the Native American Peoples in terms of their culture, history, and literature. We will survey original cultures, social structures, and language, looking at their ecological determinism as well as studying their social interactions among tribes and other peoples of European contact. This course may be taken as a one-semester credit in American Studies.

Course Length: 1 Semester
Registration Policy: Elective for Forms V & VI

This course is the study of human biology within the framework of evolution, with an emphasis on the interaction between biology and culture. It is composed of several sub disciplines; paleoanthropology to genetics, primatology, archeology, ethnology and sociology. The course traces the early hominids from their origin in East Africa to Homo erectus, Neanderthals, to early man in the New World.

Course Length: 1 Semester
Registration Policy: Elective for Forms V & VI

This one semester course provides students with an introduction to the development of American constitutional law. Historic Supreme Court decisions and legal case studies will be used to develop an in-depth understanding of the historical background and present-day constitutional controversy over such topics as federalism, separation of powers, property rights, privacy, free speech, freedom of the press, the religious clauses, and the equal protection clause. This course is limited to those students who are interested in the development of American constitutional law and who have successfully met the prerequisites.

Course Length: 1 Semester
Registration Policy: Prerequisites: AP US Government & Politics, or AP U.S. History with departmental permission; Elective for Form VI