Noble and Greenough School Course Catalog

We The People: History of American Government is an intensive study of the formal and informal structures of the government and the processes of the American political system. This course includes the study of various institutions, e.g., political beliefs/parties, branches of government, and interest groups/media to become acquainted with the variety of theoretical perspectives and explanations for various behaviors and outcomes in government and politics. The course will also explore the intersection of race, specifically, in the context of these government structures. Additionally, students will then analyze and interpret “issues” in society to understand how government at different levels (local, domestic, global) identifies, examines and proposes solutions. Examples of topics covered include: counter-terrorism, opioids, sex and human trafficking, cybersecurity, education and poverty.

This course challenges students to understand the notion of modernism from the emergence of the avant-garde in the 19th century through its full flowering in the late 20th. After defining "Modern" art and "Modernism," the course will examine major modern artists, artworks, concepts and the social, political, and intellectual contexts that shaped them. The course will focus on the relationship between development of intellectual and political ideas and the development of significant urban cultural centers in both Europe and America. Students will learn a vocabulary of terms that will enable them to articulate how a specific piece of art reflects the concerns of a given culture in its material, subject matter and iconography. This course is a History course and does not fulfill the Visual Arts requirement.

This course provides an overview of the major events, important figures, and leading trends in European history from c. 1400 to the present. We will seek to understand how and why European countries became powerful empires over the course of three centuries, and the influence that Europe has had on the rest of the world. Students in this course will sharpen their ability to analyze and weigh historical evidence from conflicting sources, to discern broader historical trends, to generalize and interpret, and to master relevant details. The development of these skills, along with regular practice on multiple-choice questions and document-based questions (DBQs), will prepare students to take the AP exam in May.

This interdisciplinary course introduces students to (1) the causes, course and consequences of genocide in the twentieth century and (2) the reasons why the United States responded as it did to genocide during that time. We will start by defining the term, studying its history and discussing the questions and patterns scholars have proposed about it – i.e., What are the politics surrounding the term? Why do states commit genocide? How do they mobilize citizens to become perpetrators? How and why do other states respond? What happens to societies in the aftermath of genocide? We will then spend most of the course exploring four case studies: Armenia, The Holocaust, Cambodia, and Rwanda. Finally, we will learn how scholars from different disciplines study genocide, and we will compare their methods, motives and conclusions. As a final assessment, students will undertake a research project about a genocide from before or after the twentieth century.

This course has an interdisciplinary focus and makes extensive use of literature, art, and film as a means of exploring selected topics in the history of Boston from the colonial era to the present. Although a rough chronological sequence governs the order of topics, the readings and discussions are essentially topical and interpretive in character. Some key topics include Puritan foundations, The American Revolution, The Abolitionist Movement and Civil War, Immigration, Demographics and Neighborhoods, School Desegregation and Busing, and Contemporary Issues. The class will end with a culminating research project which will give students an opportunity to make use of local resources and gain an insightful understanding of the discipline of history.

In this course, students will learn how to take entrepreneurial ideas or innovations from the idea stage into reality. Areas of focus will include customer and market research, writing, public speaking, working within a team, and gathering and using data to inform decision-making. In the first half of the course, students will engage in the process of learning how to use the Business Model Canvas and Lean Launchpad methodology to develop their ideas. They will learn techniques for innovation, analytical approaches to research, and evidence-based systems for decision-making. Students will learn skills such as observing, interviewing, discovering problems and forming solutions using rapid prototyping.This process will include a series of readings and discussions about entrepreneurship. Students will also work with local entrepreneurs to develop real solutions to existing problems. In the fourth quarter, students will work in teams to develop their own innovations and entrepreneurial ideas using the methodologies learned during the first half of the course.

This course introduces students to the overriding economic issues that confront a nation: growth, inflation, and unemployment. To this end, the students examine national income, the components of aggregate demand, the Keynesian multiplier model, money and banking, the stock market, fiscal and monetary policy, the Federal Reserve system, aggregate supply, and the different macroeconomic schools of thought. An in-depth analysis of the normative questions of inflation vs. unemployment highlights the course. This course prepares students for the AP Macroeconomics Examination.

This course is designed to introduce students to the fundamental principles of economics. No mathematical ability is needed beyond rudimentary skills of multiplication. Students are first introduced to the basic economic concepts of scarcity, efficiency, production possibility frontiers and the laws of supply and demand. Students then investigate more advanced economic theory: elasticity, production theory and business organization, cost analysis, perfect and imperfect competition, game theory, and selected topics in labor economics. The course concludes with student-designed projects that apply microeconomic theory to the analysis of public policy.

Homer’s Odyssey sings of a famous journey home and inspired one of the most familiar tropes in literature. Herodotus’ Histories is one of the first forays into the crafting of history. Together, they represent monumental treatments of the Aegean world and continue to speak to us today as we endeavor to understand the world around us. As classicists, we aim to piece together plausible understandings of the ancient world from careful consideration and combinations of imperfect sources. In this course, we examine various sources that evoke the ancient world–literature, history, topography, and the treasures of the archaeological record, including pottery, statues, coins, and architecture. In addition to close readings of Homer and Herodotus, we also engage archaeological questions with hands-on activities. How do we appreciate the words of the authors within the world around them? What can we still learn about the natural world, human interactions, and a life well lived? And, as we use the technology of today to connect with the past, we also have to ask: are we growing closer to the world of the Ancient Greeks with every passing year?

The Vietnam War dramatically altered the place of the U.S. in the world, transformed American politics and culture and had direct impact on United States decisions to go to war in Afghanistan and Iraq. This course examines these conflicts from historical, political, international and domestic perspectives with a particular focus on the experiences of soldiers at war and civilians caught in the crossfire. Topics include brief histories of each nation and steps leading to war, the nature of insurgent warfare, the impact of war on American culture and race relations, and the legacies of war. The syllabus includes simulation activities, memoirs, and student interviews with and visits from a diverse group of participants in these conflicts.

Political philosophers have debated questions about justice, power, freedom, and community throughout history. Modern thinkers have added a concern with individualism, rights and equality. Our goals in this class will be both to appreciate the complexity of various classic texts and to use them to illuminate enduring political problems and contemporary ethical issues. The current political landscape will serve as a fitting backdrop by which to test long-held and debated theories about the state of nature, the nature of the state, the relationship between means and ends, and the role of ethics in politics.

Power, derived from the Latin "posse", or "be able," plays a role in all academic disciplines and in all aspects of both individual and communal life. While neither positive nor negative in a vacuum, power almost universally is exerted with value-laden goals and implications. This course will explore the psychological, sociological, philosophical, and practical meanings and functions of power in global politics, economics, and business. Our explorations will intersect with issues of gender, race, religion, wealth, human rights, and environmental resources. After learning from the work of Foucault, Nietzsche, Weber, and others, students will craft a class definition of power to be used for the remainder of the course; combine it with an understanding of inequality (definition provided); and ultimately apply this framework through a challenging culminating project. Each Power and Inequality Analysis will rely heavily on solid data and statistics, demonstrate original analysis, and propose actionable steps toward redressing the inequality in question.