New Senior Seminar Off to a Successful Start
When Principal Travis Brantingham announced the introduction of the new course Senior Seminar: World Leadership to students and parents this past summer, the aim was to start out modestly, with a maximum enrollment of 12. Under the guidance of two very experienced former Principia teachers, Sharon Carper (C’70) and Jim Evans (C’66), the class would be a “departure from the traditional classroom experience,” the announcement said. Participating students would “need to be self-starters who are not afraid to express opinions . . . [and] are comfortable in the give-and-take atmosphere of a lively discussion where not all the answers are known,” Brantingham indicated.
Response was overwhelmingly positive, and a second section of the class was needed to accommodate the demand.
Halfway through the first semester, students remain enthusiastic. “I [was] hoping to gain a bigger perspective on what is going on in the world, . . . and the class is definitely meeting my expectations,” says one senior. “We talk a lot about current events, and we debate about what we believe is right and wrong, which makes all the news very relevant. It is incredible to have the chance to earn your grade from participation and projects [rather than] tests and quizzes . . . and to be able to talk and discuss more than 50 percent of the time.”
As Carper explains, “We teach via the Socratic method, around a conference table, using student-driven discussions. And we’re reading historians and thinkers, including David McCullough, Doris Kearns Goodwin, and Stephen E. Ambrose.” In addition frequent written assignments are required, and students take full advantage of the School’s new twenty-first-century classroom, equipped with “whiteboard walls,” on which they can write, and audiovisual technology that can be accessed directly from anywhere around the conference table.
In recent days, the class has focused on a section in McCullough’s Brave Companions: Portraits in History that discusses the lives and works of sculptor and painter Frederic Remington and photographer David Plowden. Choosing and sharing their analysis of specific pieces of each artist’s work, and comparing or contrasting the artists’ own views of their life and work, the students are developing an individual understanding of the interaction of art, history, and culture during a time of great transformation in the U.S.
A few weeks ago, students were assigned to research the year they were born and present an oral and audiovisual presentation about a seminal event of their selection. Here’s a sampling of their choices:
- The United Nations’ 1996 adoption of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (which the U.S. signed but Congress did not ratify)
- The 1996 adoption, under the leadership of Nelson Mandela, of South Africa’s first constitution guaranteeing equality for all its citizens
- The triumphant return of Steve Jobs to the helm of Apple in 1997, and the company’s resurgence as a technology leader
Throughout the year, the class will examine topics such as the role of the media in today’s society, character, leadership, courage, and the role of geography and religion in geopolitics. Among the planned speakers (in person or Skyped directly into the classroom) are Egil “Bud” Krogh (US’57, C’61) on the topic of ethics and former College President Dr. George Moffett (C’65), who will speak about the presidency of Jimmy Carter.