Eighth Grade Curriculum AMERICAN HISTORY: WHAT IS JUSTICE? Eighth Grade students spend their final year at Far Brook considering: What is justice and what is a leader’s role in bringing about justice? These questions relate to the year’s study of American history. The class takes a multicultural perspective on our nation’s past, considering it from the perspective of a variety of groups, studying the challenges various communities have faced and the contributions they have made. Topics range from the struggles of the Civil Rights Movement to the 2008 Financial Crisis. The class explores the ideas of protest, propaganda, and boycott in the nation’s history and also undertakes an in-depth study of the Constitution. Considerable time is devoted to a study of the Bill of Rights and its relevance to contemporary issues in American society. Throughout the year, the Eighth Grade discusses the idea of what it means to participate in a democracy and have civic responsibilities. They also examine the question of how a society lives up to the ideals it professes to believe in. Students examine many of the institutions of the United States government. Students also explore how racism is a primary “institution.” Students explore and analyze both historical and current forms of individual and systemic racism. Whenever possible, primary sources are used in their study of United States history, and national and international current events are discussed. Both of these, along with secondary source material, serve as rich materials for the class as they learn to make connections between earlier episodes in our nation’s history and contemporary events, and view all these studies through questions of justice and leadership. In the second half of the year, the students select a topic from any period of American history on which to write a research paper to gain expertise in a specific area of our nation’s history. In studying justice and leadership throughout pivotal moments in U.S. history, students consider how the lessons learned help shape how they contribute to their school community. They experience what it means to be a leader as they take on various leadership roles within school Traditions as they experience each of these for the last time. Students are often asked to be tour guides or greeters or to speak on panels during campus events such as Open Houses, dinners, and other special events, like helping to lead Morning Meeting, speaking about their school experiences to prospective and new families, and modeling for all students what it means to be role models for the community. www.farbrook.org
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