Current classes taught

United States History
Recommended Prerequisite(s): World History
This course provides a one-year survey of American history from the Colonial Period and the American Revolution to the present day, with an emphasis on the twentieth century.  Using the textbook and primary documents and current events, students learn about the various political, social, religious, and economic developments that have shaped and continue to shape the United States.  Essay writing and critical thinking are emphasized as integral ways of understanding how the past relates to the present and future.  

 

This course introduces students to the interconnected effects of race, ethnicity, and class on human beings. Students will examine how each individual has been socially constructed and how structured systems of inequality work. Students will also explore how these systems affect people’s health, life chances, self-concept, and material well-being. Along with the exploration of race and ethnic issues, the class will also study institutionalized racism and discrimination.  Issues of class will be fully integrated throughout the course as the class examines how economic status has had positive effects on people of privilege and thus shows the connections between power and powerlessness, wealth and poverty, confidence, and despair.