Dr. Delvecchio and I just finished day #2 with our new freshmen historians.  We’re also on day #2 of a bit of an experiment this year.  Instead of following the well-worn path of the traditional European history survey, we’re revamping the curriculum by creating thematic units that invite students to connect a “moment” in European history to the world that they have inherited.

For example, the theme for the first unit is “Threats,” and today we looked at the catastrophic impact of the Plague on Europe during the mid 1300s, using an array of primary documents.  Next week, students will focus on particular present-day threats , conduct research on these threats, and then explain in writing why these problems are in fact so threatening.

Traditionalists need not be worried, though.  During the winter and fall terms, we plan to cover major developments in the history of the West, such as the Reformation, the Scientific Revolution, the Enlightenment, the French Revolution, the Industrial Revolution, and the emergence of nationalism, liberalism, and socialism.  And the skills of clear written and oral expression–hallmarks of the Thacher program–will continue to receive plenty of emphasis.  But we’re hoping to show how the theme of religious conflict, which emerged from the Reformation, still exists, as is evident in the Sunni-Shi’a split.  We’ll point to how the entrepreneurial spirit that generated scientific advancements and philosophical fermentation during the 1600s and 1700s lives on in our current Information Age.  And we’ll seek to assess the extent to which ideas like representative government and opposition to tyranny, which were at the heart of the Age of Revolution in the late 1700s and early 1800s, were also core ideas of the Arab Spring.  Even the rise of China will receive our attention, as we grapple with the consequences and effects of the Industrial Revolution and modern theories of government.  Our perspective will connect both past and present as well as various parts of the world.

The result, we hope, will be a dynamic and engaging class that will both expose our students to a range of global issues shaping and affecting the twenty-first century and teach them the analytical skills involved in thinking like a historian.

I’m already looking forward to day #3.