The Humanities
The Humanities, properly understood, encompass all forms of human self-expression aimed at communication with others. Spoken language, music, written language of all genres, drama, visual arts, architecture, and more recently film and digital arts, have evolved in constant interaction with one another and in concert with technological developments and advances, and can only be fully understood in relation to one another.
The Humanities program at The Hill, uses "greatest jewels" of human creative and intellectual accomplishment, as the foundation from which the students as citizens of a rapidly changing 21st century global community will venture farther afield in both space (beyond the traditionally defined West) and time (to study contemporary creative works) while looking ahead to anticipate the adult world they are about to inherit.
Humanities 3 and 4 together are designed to guide students as they attain the sophisticated levels of both critical and creative thinking that are the foundation of effective, lucid and compelling oral and written articulation of their own understanding, analysis, and appreciation. These are the “skills” at the core of the Humanities program at The Hill, as they are throughout the liberal arts curriculum. It is the means to those ends that make the Humanities program at The Hill different; those skills are developed in response to and interaction with the “best” of human creation.
Within the environs of the Levis '45 * Alexandre '75 Center for the Humanities, students enrolled in Humanities 3 and 4 will write on a daily basis, while exploring a wide range of genres and rhetorical methods and techniques as both critics and practitioners themselves. Students must be prepared to be challenged daily within an active, interdisciplinary, student-centered learning environment. This course requires summer preparatory work, which includes, reading, writing, and experiential activities.
For more information about the Humanities Department, please contact Dr. Mark Pearson '78 P'20 '24, the Elizabeth B. Blossom Chair of Humanities and Co-Director of the Writing Center, at mpearson@thehill.org.
Humanities Course Offerings:
- 6th Form
- AP
Requires departmental approval
Humanities 4 AP is the second year of a two year sequence of courses. It prepares students for the CEEB Advanced Placement Examination in AP English Literature and Composition. Humanities 3 and 4 together are designed to guide students as they attain the sophisticated levels of both critical and creative thinking that are the foundation of effective, lucid and compelling oral and written articulation of their own understanding, analysis and appreciation. These are the “skills” at the core of the Humanities Program at The Hill, as they are throughout the Liberal Arts curriculum. It is the means to those ends that make the Humanities program at The Hill different; those skills are developed in response to and interaction with the “best” of human creation. Within the evirons of the Levis Room, Humanities 4 students will explore the critical concepts of “genius” “greatness” and “excellence” through their encounters with the Illiad and Hamlet as well as Michelangelo and Beethoven, and a variety of modern, contemporary and global authors, artists and cultural phenomena. They will write on a daily basis, while exploring a wide range of genres and rhetorical methods and techniques as both critics and practitioners themselves. Humanities 4 students must be prepared to be challenged daily within an active, interdisciplinary, student-centered learning environment. This course requires summer preparatory work, which includes, reading, writing and experiential activities.
NCAA Approved Course
- 5th Form
- AP
Requires departmental approval
Humanities 3 AP is the first year of a two-year sequence of courses. It prepares students for the CEEB Advanced Placement Examination in AP English Language and Composition. Humanities 3 and 4 together are designed to guide students as they attain the sophisticated levels of both critical and creative thinking that are the foundation of effective, lucid, and compelling oral and written articulation of their own understanding, analysis, and appreciation. These are the “skills” at the core of the Humanities Program at The Hill, as they are throughout the Liberal Arts curriculum. It is the means to those ends that make the Humanities program at The Hill different; those skills are developed in response to and interaction with the “best” of human creation. Within the environs of the Levis Room, Humanities 3 students will explore rhetorical masters spanning from Prospero in the Tempest to such diverse characters as Jonathan Swift, Abraham Lincoln, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Annie Dillard. They will write on a daily basis, while exploring a wide range of genres and rhetorical methods and techniques as both critics and practitioners themselves. Humanities 3 students must be prepared to be challenged daily within an active, interdisciplinary, student-centered learning environment. This course requires summer preparatory work, which includes, reading, writing, and experiential activities.
NCAA approved course