Honors Humanities 2014-15
Radow Phone: 275-5023
E-mail: Mike.Radow@mercerislandschools.org
Web site http://www.mercerislandschools.org//Domain/658
Office: 204C
Prep periods 3 and 6
Rationale: The goal of the course is essentially self-knowledge. What is the human condition and how
have people responded to it through the millennia? Humanities aims to develop a deeper understanding
of self and society through the study of creative revelations of great writers, thinkers, and artists. We will
join in dialogue with these people, adding our own ideas. We will widen our perspective on what it means
to be human, strengthen our powers of reason and imagination, and cultivate moral intelligence. Over the
course of the year we will try on new points of view and ideas, and in the process, continue the hard,
worthwhile work of building a self. Lastly, I hope students will increase their ability to articulate how these
themes help illuminate contemporary issues and events which shape our world today. Senior year is a
unique time in your young lives, and thus is an ideal to stop and reflect, to examine your self and your
worldThis search enlivens, enlightens, and enriches us all.
The Humanities include the study of History, Philosophy, Literature and the Arts. Each discipline offers a
unique approach and response to eternal human questions. This course presents a survey of the main
areas of human concern from Classical times to the present in Western as well as Eastern cultures.
CLASS PROCEDURES
Please come to class equipped with pens/pencils, paper, and appropriate books and handouts and a
composition book for recording written response to readings.
As an Honors class, we expect students to strive to attain an HONORS STANDARD by demonstrating
the following skills and dispositions.
accept challenges willingly
accept personal responsibility for failures
miss school rarely and come to class on time
show a desire to improve.
rethink as necessary,
maintain a positive attitude.
complete all assigned work on time
seek to live up to his/her potential
evaluate your own work and revise, review,
solve problems independently
For written work the Honors Standard demonstrates: an honest and personal thesis appropriate for the
topic, appropriate evidence and correct citations, a logically sound and valid discussion of the primary
sources, an engaging style, with imaginative and appropriate vocabulary, varied sentence structure and
smooth transitions, and virtually no mechanical errors.
TUTORIALS/ESSAYS: The heart of the course lies in the tutorial process. Greatest learning takes place
when students prepare and defend their rational answers to open ended questions. Students will be
divided into small tutorial groups. Each student will write roughly every six weeks, for a total of six major
tutorials during the year. Tutorial questions will be given out at least a week before the due date. On that
due date, students read completed drafts aloud for discussion and comment. The rest of the class listens
and prepares annotated notes of the discussion. Failure to appear at a tutorial session with a draft to
read aloud will result in an automatic 15% penalty.
Re-writes: Students must re-write and re-submit every essay. The emphasis on re-writes reinforces the
idea of conversation. When re-writing, respond to your classmates’ and your teacher’s comments by
adding or subtracting from your essay, but also by making comments of your own in response. The
purpose of re-writes is not solely about improving one’s grade, though that may happen; it is about
continuing to engage in the conversation. The teacher will return re-writes with a grade based on an
evaluation of the conversation to that point. Re-writes are due no later than one week after the essay is
returned. Unless otherwise noted, for every rewrite, resubmit the original, with teacher comments, and
clearly indicate omissions and rewritten.
IN CLASS WRITING. In addition to tutorials, you will be expected to write some shorter, on-demand, inclass essays addressing narrower, more specific aspects of our readings and discussions.
CREDO: At the culmination of this course, the students will compose and deliver their personal credos to
the entire class. In it students will share their responses to the enduring questions and problems of
human existence. Each credo must reflect our year-long conversations with the great minds of the past
and with each other. Specifically, you must draw upon three texts from the class; additionally, students
are expected to respond to questions from the audience.
GRADING: Grades are meant to reflect the degree to which a student has mastered the content goals of
the course, and the skills and dispositions outlined in the Honors Standard above. Students’ grades will
be based on total points accrued from tutorial essays and discussions, journal entries, occasional
reading quizzes, class participation and “responsibility”. This last component addresses your contribution
to making Humanities a productive, positive learning community. It includes attentiveness, respect for self
and others, and regular attendance.
Late work on essays will be marked down unless you have prearranged for an extension. One day late
80%. Two days late 60%. There is no penalty for late homework unless I announce in class that an
assignment must be completed on time in order to participate in the subsequent activity. No make-up
work will be accepted the last two weeks of the semester.
Missing Work: All missing work goes in as a 0 until completed. Remember, I change asterisks (*) on
Skyward into zeros if the work when there are two weeks left. isn’t completed.
Make up work in a timely fashion. For excused absences, you have two days for every day you were
absent to make up work (school policy).
Retakes: Students may retake tests one time. The time of the retake will be announced several days in
advance. I will take the higher score and apply it to your grade.
There is no extra credit.
The following grading scale will be used throughout this course:
A 93-100%
A- 90-92.9%
Communication
website.
B+ 87-89.9%
B 83-86.9%
B- 80-82.9%
C+ 77-79.9%
C 73-77.9%
C- 70-72.9%
D 60-69.9%
F 0-59.9%
E-mail is the best way to contact me out of class. Weekly syllabi are posted on the
READINGS: The list of readings on the following page is not exhaustive; additional readings may be
assigned throughout the year to complement our main readings or if they are more relevant to
contemporary issues and the evolving needs of the students themselves. While the library has sufficient
books for all students, many students prefer to purchase the works we read and consider. Having a
“clean” copy, which you can mark with your own comments greatly enhances your encounter with the
classics, since you can take the books with you and chart your own growth and change with each rereading. I suggest you read ahead as much as possible and be prepared for seminar discussions. DO
NOT FALL BEHIND.
Honors History Reading and Viewing List
We will use an online open source reader for easy access to many of these texts, It can be found at
http://philosophy.lander.edu/intro/introbook-links.html
Victor Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning
Kitto, The Greeks
Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War (excerpts)
The Trojan Women (film)
Plato, “The Apology of Socrates;” “Phaedo;” Symposium and The Republic
Lawrence Kohlberg “On Moral development”
”
Aristotle, selections from Nicomachean Ethics
Albert Camus, “The Myth of Sisyphus”
Epictetus, The Art of Living
Seneca, Moral Letters (selected); “Consolation to Helvia;” “On the Shortness of Life”
Selections from The Old Testament: Genesis, Exodus, Job
Selections from The Koran
the Bhagavad Gita
St. Augustine, selections from Confessions
Dante The Divine Comedy
Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince
Michel de Montaigne, “On Cannibals”
Gottfried Leibniz, “Theodicy”
Ebenstein, ed. Great Political Thinkers, selections from Hobbes, John Locke, Karl Marx
Immanuel Kant selections
David Hume selections
Kierkegaard “On the Crowd”, Fear and Trembling
Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Grand Inquisitor
Friedrich Nietzsche, selected writings
James Spence, “What Nietzsche Could Teach You: Eternal Return in Groundhog Day”
Sigmund Freud and Albert Einstein, “Why War?”
Michael Walzer, Just and Unjust Wars: A Moral Argument with Historical Illustrations (excerpted)
Mohandas Gandhi, “Passive Resistance”
John Rawls, On Justice
Errol Morris, The Fog of War
-------- -------- -------- -------- -------- -------- -------- -------- -------Please complete and return the portion below by Friday September 12, 2013
My signature below shows that I have read and understand the contents and expectations of the
Humanities syllabus.
Home phone #_____________________________________
Student signature_______________________ e-mail________________________________________
Parent signature________________________parent e-mail_______________________________
Humanities Film Viewing Permission
Student name: _______________________________ has my permission to watch “R” rated films that
have been chosen for viewing in Humanities this year. I understand the MIHS policy that parent/guardian
approval is required for the viewing of films that exceed a PG-13 rating.
Signed _____________________________________
(Parent or Guardian)
Please contact Mr. Radow at 206-275-5023 if you have questions about films we may be showing.