Required Courses | Electives | Online Electives

Required Courses

Human Crossroads: Confronting Global Challenges through Time, Identity and Place

Human Crossroads asks students to respond to some of the world's greatest challenges using an interdisciplinary approach that draws from the intersection of geography, history, anthropology, and sociology. The curriculum is composed of units dedicated to central thematic questions ranging from the meaning of human identity to the value of borders, the possibility of religious pluralism, and vexing problems of global inequities. Each unit starts by asking, "what is where, why there, why care?" using maps. Course material and projects include current events, academic texts, online resources, and data visualizations. Students learn to read actively, analyze maps, interpret data, write thesis-driven essays, and synthesize information, with according skill-based assessments. This class is not only intended to develop academic skills, but to foster curiosity, self-reflection, global citizenship, and a renewed commitment to the pursuit of truth, love, and justice in the world.

The Modern World

First, the good news: many people alive today are better off than all other humans who have preceded them. That may not surprise you. But, the bad news will: many others alive today are actually worse off than their predecessors. That includes medieval serfs, African tribesmen, and even prehistoric cavemen! How can this be? The modern world, loosely defined as the last two centuries of human life, has witnessed some of the most dramatic transformations in our history. Yet, those transformations have often functioned as a double-edged sword, bringing great reward to some and devastation to others. Why did these changes occur in the first place? Why did certain countries and people benefit while others suffered? And what does this say about the world we live in now, and where we're headed in the future? This course endeavors to answer those questions through a wide-ranging study of the last 200+ years, from the Industrial Revolution through to the present.

United States History

While chronological, this course focuses on several themes that have reverberated throughout the American experience. The central theme is the epochal tug-of-war between Jefferson’s credo of equality and its paradoxical partners: conquest, slavery, and racism amidst a diversity of historic proportions; gender discrimination; and the class inequalities generated within a dynamic economy. Accordingly, we will pay significant attention to the history of movements that challenge the dominant meaning of equality, such as labor unions, suffragists, and the multitude of civil rights movements across time. The nation’s history is also traced through the tensions between a deep-rooted fear of centralized power and the drive for an efficient and powerful federal government. Lastly, significant time is given to U.S. involvement in global affairs, with a particular stress on presidential decision-making, and its impact both abroad and at home. While classic political issues are at the core of the course, there are times—such as the era between Reconstruction and World War I—when the magnitude of cultural and economic changes are at the heart of an era. We will use a very wide range of primary and college-level secondary sources. This course is taken by most juniors and any other students entering after the junior year who might need such work.

Electives

Yearlong

Citizen Stories: Investigating Race, Class and Culture in Portland 

In this integrated History / Media Arts course, students will develop and lead projects to examine the way our city serves its population across demographic categories. Students will be given a foundation in documentary film, photography and audio production to capture stories from the community about race, class and cultural issues. We will read, watch and hear from class speakers on the development of city policies that govern access to education, housing and health services. Texts for the class will include official city planning documents as well as historic accounts of different eras in the city. Through thorough research of both texts and personal narratives we aim to gague the origin of current policy, examine how our city has (de)evolved over time, and chart how we can impact the future.

New Media Studies

This collaborative yearlong course combines study of print media history, news in the digital age, and core journalistic skills while allowing students to practice writing for an audience as the CatlinSpeak staff. CatlinSpeak is an award-winning online news magazine and print newspaper that is designed, written, and published by 10th to 12th grade students. The first six weeks focus on learning the fundamentals of journalistic writing, understanding the historical arc of journalism, and becoming comfortable with online tools such as Twitter and Wordpress, which are used by news sites around the world. Students gain applied skills such as layout, blogging, vlogging, and news tweeting as well as the crafting of story budget lines, leads, op-eds, blurbs, features, photo essays, and graphics. The staff members work as a team to produce weekly written and video content for the website and quarterly print editions. In addition, students research, discuss, and write about current events from around school to around the world.

New Media Studies II (honors level)

This course runs simultaneously with New Media Studies, but requires more responsibility, vision and leadership. Two or three students are chosen every year to participate at the honors level and manage the CatlinSpeak staff. Duties include running meetings, tracking deadlines for multiple staff members, working with staff to grow ideas into publishable material, having an extra weekly meeting with course advisors, advertising to the school and larger community, assisting in creating course content, and staying apprised of the latest trends in digital and print media. On occasions, honors students are required to organize public events such as the two mayoral debates hosted by CatlinSpeak in 2012.

Women's Studies Seminar

Studies Seminar explores the social, economic, religious, historical and political issues that affect women and children in the United States and around the world. Concepts related to the development of feminist thought and women’s issues from 1970 to the present will be examined including first-, second-, and third-wave feminism, multicultural feminism, global feminism, and ecofeminism. Students will engage in assigned readings through thoughtful journaling, and at the end of each semester, they will draw together the ideas studied by writing a short paper. Additionally, students will complete two projects with the goal of increasing the understanding among the student body about the centrality of women and children in national and international dialogue. Significant literary readings will include The Collector by John Fowles, Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov, The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, Tracks by Louise Erdrich, Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston, The Hours by Michael Cunningham, and The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton. This course is open to seniors by consent of instructor and is worth one-half credit in history.

Fall Semester 

Economics (honors level, 2013-14)

How can we create and measure economic growth? What is the value of a dollar? What is the value of an ocean? What does economic justice look like? Do taxes inhibit or facilitate prosperity? Why did the housing market collapse in 2007, and what is the best way to respond to this problem? This course introduces students to the economic tools and reasoning required to address these—and many other—sophisticated contemporary questions, and to help inform student choices as consumers, workers, and citizens. Both national and international contexts will be engaged, often using readings from the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the Economist to examine economic events and debates.

Revolution in the Middle East (honors level, 2013-14)

Students will engage the seismic shifts in the recent history of the “greater Middle East," from Morocco to Pakistan. The course begins with a brief history of the rise, development, and expansion of Islam, the later ascendancy of Western imperialism in the region, and the emergence of both recently overthrown and (as of today) surviving regimes and philosophies. Serious attention will be given to the variations between and within different states and regions, as students grapple with essential questions: Why do uprisings begin, succeed, or fail, and what will be the nature of the new regimes? Student research and presentations will be a driving force in the class, which will adapt to the events as they are unfolding. This course is recommended, but not required, for students enrolled in Environmental Science and/or Politics.

Transitional Justice (honors level, 2013-14)

How can a country, scarred by genocide, ever recover and regain a sense of normalcy? How can two rival factions, each guilty of committing horrible atrocities against the other, ever learn to live together in peace again? How can victims of torture rebuild their internal worlds while their external circumstances remain equally fractured? This course studies the field of transitional justice, through which countries and the international community endeavor to move from chaos to stability, to punish the guilty, to document the historical truth, and to help the victims heal. Subjects include the Holocaust and the experience of surviving German Jews after the war, apartheid-era South Africa and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and the Argentine military dictatorship and the struggle to find children kidnapped from the government's victims. People interested in law, history, international relations, human rights, and current events will be interested in this class.

Spring Semester

Globalization: Debates & Controversies (honors level, 2013-14)

Globalization is both a process and a state of being. We can see that the world is swiftly becoming ever more interconnected: blueberries from Chile, Blackberrys from China. It is also a way of thinking: we know we are connected to people in China, India and elsewhere in new ways and we therefore think about our role in the world differently. Globalization occurs at the level of economics, politics, culture, and the physical environment; it can be resisted but it is undeniably shaping our lives. In this semester-long course, we will examine the ways in which globalization is taking place before moving on to a more experiential, cooperative project. First, we will look at the way the global economy works by learning about the World Trade organization and other such global bodies. We will examine the processes of outsourcing and offshoring, thinking about how they affect lives everywhere, and consider the debate between seeing these and other changes as “globalization” or “Americanization.” Then we will turn to the issue of climate change, a vexing global issue that demonstrates the intimate interplay between nations, peoples, institutions, and cultures. But rather than simply decrying the situation, we will sustain our focus, looking at solutions. What are Catlin Gabel, Portland, the State of Oregon, the USA, and the “global community” doing to stem climate change, what’s working and how can we push policy in the right direction? Students will meet with local leaders and take part in policy debates on this current and vital issue.

Rebels with a Cause (honors level, 2013-14)

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Thomas Jefferson risked his life in writing these brave words in the opening lines of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. In doing so, Jefferson dared to rebel against the tyranny of King George the III in pursuit of freedom and justice. While Jefferson was radical at the time, those “self-evident truths” have never been evident to every self – in America or around the world. This course explores the stories and ideals of activists and groups of people who had the courage to fight for justice, rights, equality, peace and sustainability. The class will start by examining the theories behind social movements and then analyze their origins, characterizations, life cycles and methods for change, with a particular focus on Saul Alinsky’s framework for community organizing and means of non-violent civil disobedience. The class will then analyze failed movements for social change and examine the more successful rhetoric and actions of visionaries like Gandhi, Jeannette Rankin, Malcolm X and Tich Nhat Hanh. Throughout the course, students will have ample opportunity to engage with local activists during their investigation into the dynamics of social change. Ultimately, students will take on a cause of their own and lead a social movement for change informed by the collective wisdom of the past, and with the courage and vision to work for a better tomorrow.

9/11 (honors level, 2013-14)

September 11, 2001 was a tragedy that must be understood on multiple levels. Locally, it radically altered New York City, leaving physical and psychological scars. Nationally, it shook a superpower, prompting widespread fear, confusion, and new policies that highlighted the tension between freedom and security. Internationally, it rewrote diplomatic relationships, launching the War on Terror and spurring many human rights concerns. While 9/11 was a starting point for all of this, it was also an endpoint, the product of decades of global transformations. This class situates 9/11 where it belongs, at the center of an extended narrative, amidst the contemporary trends of post-imperialism, globalization, and terrorism.

Online Electives

Fall Semester

9/11 in a Global Context (Global Online Academy)

September 11, 2001, was a tragedy that must be understood on multiple levels. Locally, it radically altered New York City, leaving physical and psychological scars. Nationally, it shook a superpower, prompting widespread fear, confusion, and new policies that highlighted the tension between freedom and security. Internationally, it rewrote diplomatic relationships, launching the War on Terror and spurring many human-rights concerns. While 9/11 was a starting point for all of this, it was also an end point, the product of decades of global transformations. This class situates 9/11 where it belongs, at the center of an extended narrative, amidst the contemporary trends of post- imperialism, globalization, and terrorism.

Comparative Religions (Global Online Academy)

This course will compare Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Taoism. We will view each faith through the same lens, applying a shared vocabulary and framework to discover the origin, theology, and practices of each tradition. Students will work together to consider similarities among these faiths and to identify significant points of divergence. In the final weeks of the semester, students will be charged with questions that tap both personal and global perspectives. What are my own religious beliefs, and how do my own religious beliefs influence the way I interact with others? Where inthe world do I see religion influencing political, economic, and/or social issues, and how might the similarities we have identified be utilized to ameliorate tensions caused by the differences among different faiths?

Global Health (Global Online Academy)

What makes people sick? What social and political factors lead to the health disparities we see both within our own communities and on a global scale? Using an interdisciplinary approach to address these two questions, this course hopes to improve students' health literacy through an examination of the most significant public-health challenges facing today's global population. Topics addressed will be the biology of infectious diseases; the statistics and quantitative measures associated with health issues; the social determinants of health; and the role of organizations (public and private) in shaping the landscape of global health policy. Students will use illness as a lens through which to examine critically such social issues as poverty, gender, and race. Student work will include analytical and creative writing; peer review, critique, and discussion; and online presentation.

Crimes Against Humanity (Global Online Academy)

The 20th century witnessed some of the most horrifying examples of inhumanity in world history. The Armenian Genocide during World War I, the Holocaust in Europe during World War II, and the Rwanda Genocide in 1994 demonstrated how hatred and violence could unfold in dramatic fashion by the actions of both private citizens and the policies of governments. Yet these atrocities also led to new perspectives in international justice by developing definitions and punishments for crimes against humanity in the Nuremberg Tribunals and the subsequent International Criminal Court proceedings. This course first explores the three genocides in depth, using primary and secondary source readings, group projects, documentaries, and literature, and then turns to an examination of international justice with particular attention to the significance of the Nuremberg Tribunals. Students will write a research paper, collaborate on group presentations, and create a human rights report card website for a current nation of the world.

Microeconomics (Global Online Academy)

This course provides students with an overview of the modern market economy as a system for dealing with resource scarcity. Students will learn basic microeconomic theory: supply, demand, and resource allocation; profit maximization; analysis of various market and industry structures; social costs and benefits; and international trade. Students will: test their understanding of demand and supply in a stock market simulation; investigate profit maximization by looking at case studies such as Apple; and experiment with game theory to gain insight into the behavior of firms. Using a problem-solving approach, students will learn through interactive lectures, group work, individual projects, discussions, and simulations.

Online Journalism (Global Online Academy)

The GOA Journal will be an online news magazine that is designed, written and published by students from around the globe. This collaborative course will focus on learning the fundamentals of journalisticwriting, understanding the historical arc of journalism, and becoming comfortable with online tools such as Twitter, Dipity, Storify and Wordpress that are utilized by news sites around the world. Students will gain applied skills such as layout, blogging, vlogging, news tweeting as well as the crafting of budget lines, leads, op-eds, features, photo-essays, and graphics. The staff will work as a team to produce frequent content for the site. While school newspapers write for a school community, stories in the GOA Journal will be geared toward a broader audience with stories as pertinent to students in Jakarta as they are to students in Minneapolis. For example, students could cover events unfolding in the Middle East,Facebook’s censorship of art or recent trends in science education from the unique perspectives students bring to GOA’s international community. Students who take Online Journalism are eligible to write for the GOA Journal after their course.

Spring Semester

Comparative Governments (Global Online Academy)