Here are some reports from the teachers of each of our Humanities classes for last weeks in the Program. We have organized them by class:
Freshmen Humanities (Ms. Kristen Harrell, Instructor)
At the beginning of the week, we finished talking about the importance of the poleis in Greece, particularly Athens and Sparta, and we watched excerpts of a wonderful documentary about the Battle of Thermopylae from the History Channel. The students’ discussions were great. They were able to give highly in depth answers to why Athens evolved into a direct democracy. We also had a rather fun debate today concerning reality and perception. I showed them how Xerxes was interpreted in the movies 300 and One Night with the King. They immediately recognized that they were the drastically different. One of the main themes of the week seemed to be what actually history is when we only know it through the lens of the victors.
The Sophists were introduced to set up Greek Philosophy for next week. The students made good analogies deciding that the Sophists, particularly Protagoris, were born far ahead of their time and would do very well in our modern society. We also talked about how most of what we know of them is from Plato, therefore one should always consider the source when looking at historical figures. We introduced Socrates and I’m really sad that I have to teach him his ending next week. The kids really seem to love him so far.
Sophomore Humanities (Kevin Delaney, Instructor)
Senior Humanities (Ms. Jackson, Instructor)
So this week we wrapped the novel 1984. Students had their usual class discussion and also thought about how our world today is similar to the world in 1984.