History and culture are best approached through the study of original documents and artifacts. Rather than read about the Magna Carta, students examine the Magna Carta itself. Students who feel the genius of Homer by actually reading his poems are better served than those who read about Homer in a history textbook. Students learn to interpret culture by concentrating on close reading and expository writing. The scale of the writing projects is graduated, proceeding from shorter assignments with emphasis on sentence and paragraph structure in the earlier grades, to full-scale research papers by grade eleven.
Students share their findings in the form of public, oral presentations.
This course adopts a cross-disciplinary approach to the study of ancient cultures, with emphasis on Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, and Rome. The literature and art of these cultures are considered as expressions of individual genius, as reflections of cultural exchange and evolution, and as foundations for later developments in human civilization. Students read selections from the poetry of Homer and Hesiod. Readings from Greek lyric poetry and Herodotus accompany a treatment of the development of Athenian democracy and a comparison of Athens and Sparta. The causes and events of the Persian Wars are covered, together with the drama, art, and architecture of fifth-century Athens, the philosophical teachings of Plato and Aristotle, and the life and death of Socrates.