A Comprehensive Approach to the Humanities

Abstract

escape the mental constraints of single subject thinking. At the same time, we want our subject, literature (most humanities teachers, let's face it, are English teachers), to be further illuminated by the delightful color of art or the passionate tones of music. Nothing could be more expansive for our students than to educate them to experience beauty, whether in a novel, a symphony, or a painting. A few humanities courses go further to introduce a greater sense of the history and even philosophy that surrounds the arts. Parochial, one-dimensional thinking is often routed by such breadth. Each step a curriculum or school might take to seek inclusiveness and synthesis and to promote interdisciplinary teaching, projects, or thinking should be commended. Our own humanities teaching is even more ambitious; we seek to make solid connections between the hard sciences, the fine arts, and the social sciences. Admittedly, we have a unique setting: a special school with a gifted student body. Our claims for success even for these students also must be modest: often the accomplishments lie well beneath the surface and are not easily measurable. But we believe that some portion of our experience might be applicable to other settings and to the goal of teaching our students how to think their own thoughts and experience beauty for themselves with breadth and depth. Each summer, four hundred academically gifted juniors from across our state are selected for six weeks of intensive instruction at the North Carolina Governor's School. The academic curriculum for an individual student is focused on two courses: