A SECONDARY EDUCATION CURRICULUM FOR THE HUMANITIES By Mark A Trexler A MASTER S PROJECT For ED 7999 Submitted to the Office for Graduate Studies Graduate Division of Wayne State University Detroit Michigan In partial fulfillment of the requirements For the degree of MASTER OF ARTS IN TEACHING APRIL 2003 MAJOR HISTORY EDUCATION Approved by Bob Pettapiece Date Table of Contents CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER TWO REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE 4 I The Virtuous Citizen 4 II Four Dimensions of Human Experience 6 CHAPTER THREE HUMANITIES CURRICULUM 10 I Semester Overview 10 II Unit I The Virtuous Citizen 11 III Unit II The Foundations of Western Civilization 12 IV Unit III Temptations of Good and Evil 14 V Unit IV Moral Character 17 VI Unit V Aesthetics Beauty Truth 19 CHAPTER FOUR REFERENCES 21 CHAPTER FIVE APPENDIXES 22 Appendix A NCSS Curriculum Standards 23 Appendix B Multiple Intelligence Test 24 Appendix C Days of the Martyrs Article 32 Appendix D Resources 37 CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION The intention of this project is to create a humanities curriculum for a secondary education classroom The overlying objective is to thematically create a foundation for future learning and an appreciation for the arts and history A secondary objective is to further the concept of the virtuous citizen Gardner 2000 The students will learn what it means to be one and hopefully generate the needed motivation to achieve such a status The students will hopefully see the outside world in a new light that will shine with them in college and beyond Many school districts lack this important curriculum The humanities have been relegated to the sidelines or have been fragmented into various other disciplines From a pragmatic perspective this all makes sense allow the experts to teach their field The one degenerative side effect that has been unfortunately overlooked is that there is little or no connection to the bigger picture Students are assumed incorrectly to have the ability to connect the dots on their own but often they are simply overwhelmed with varying information that just splatters in their mind without the creation of a unified idea No connection is made and learning suffers for it Education cannot satisfy a need and becomes a burden When this happens learning stops Their processing becomes confused and unfocused and with it the quest to become a virtuous citizen is merely washed away in a tide of digibabble The structure of the humanities in a high school setting has the wonderful opportunity to allow many different students with diverse backgrounds sift through the bog of information that is a permanent part of their lives as well as open unseen doors buried in the shadows Social studies in secondary education are an ideal place to begin this journey of the virtuous citizen As the adolescent mind takes shape possibilities of the future open up The importance of a well defined citizen in a robust nation must augment the higher order thinking of potential leaders as well as common citizens Knox 1991 There is no time in life to behold all of the past and all the beauty of mankind but in a humanities class the preeminent achievements of human experience can be introduced The learning can be shaped in a study of the humanities From there the love of learning the love of beauty and the love of truth will grow exponentially Emotions need to be stirred Once that occurs once the abstract becomes close then memories are formed When memories are fastened to emotions people will remember them for a lifetime When a connection is made then a love affair with learning begins in the deepest fissures of our minds Students cease being passive players and embrace the active Students go from enjoying the aesthetics around us to the actual process of creation It may just be for our own benefit or it might be for the world The importance is the beginning A love affair of scholarship and an establishment of a virtuous citizen is the endpoint For many people the humanities entertain a vast array of potential emotions just waiting to be unleashed Moore 1999 The value of knowledge and the value of art including its dimensions are central to the curriculum Its purpose is wrapped up in the virtuous citizen s life journey The wish is to create a two way street of information between the students and the teacher Everyone s beliefs and attitudes need to change slightly to stay fresh and to continue growing This is a great opportunity to create a curriculum for the humanities in a high school Students have a lot to offer to their own world but their view of the larger world and the vast scope of history are extremely narrow With many attempting the daunting road towards college and graduation they are especially lacking in the basics of art music history and philosophy The humanities need to play a role in their developing lives This may be for many of them their one opportunity The course will be a semester long and center on the dual concepts of the virtuous citizen and aesthetics A foundation of Western Civilization will be laid out in the first weeks followed by discussions on the temptations between good and evil and secondly on moral character The last weeks will be devoted to aesthetics The curriculum standards for the course will come from the National Council of the Social Studies ten thematic strands All of this will be discussed in greater detail in chapter three CHAPTER TWO Review of Related Literature Knowledge is power Francis Bacon The Virtuous Citizen In the media age people are bombarded by information However this mass amount of data can be overpowering to the average person What is good information What is useless information Good information can assist in what author Tom Wolfe 2000 has called the four constants of human behavior First is to ward off death second is the desire to avoid irksome toil third is the desire to procreate and fourth is the desire to assert the honor and superiority of my kind p 3 All information can either be beneficial in obtaining any one of these various goals or a combination of them Wolfe s four constants of human behavior tend to transfer life to its most basic or primitive The study of the humanities is essential in an attempt to find more meaning in life A key part of the humanities is aesthetics Aesthetics is the central aspect of Aristotle s four dimensions of human experience In simple terms aesthetics is beauty The aesthetic dimension encompasses all forms of