GRADE TEN: the required elementsTheme: Revolution and the Rise of the Individual (1688 to 1851). Theory: If the archetypal idea of Grade Nine is movement, in Grade Ten it is time--that intense sense of contemporaneity that impells the idea of revolution: from the English "Glorious" Revolution, to the Enlightenment, the Industrial Revolution, the American, French, Haitian, South American Revolutions, and the European Revolutions of 1848. The expansion of European Civilization into the New World brings with it a new expansion and empowerment of the middle class. With the democratization of information through printing, the priest and the knight no longer hold between them the traditional structure of civilization and the scientist, the inventor, and the artist become new charismatic embodiments of a time of change. The dissenting minister with his congregation, the scientist and inventor with their learned societies, the revolutionary with his pamphlets and printing press, and the artist as a charismatic genius with his own following, all create a new cultural myth of individuality that transforms the millennia-old formations of domination and governance. These political movements are energized by the new sciences in which "explosion" in chemistry, and the undermining of the fixed order of the Creation in geology produce new visions of the possibilities for change. Practice: The study of the inter-relationships between the English "Glorious" Revolution, the Enlightenment, the Industrial Revolution, and the American, French, Haitian and Latin American Revolutions, as well as their impact on the European Revolutions of 1848 in creating a new~global political culture. Integrated Studies Projects:
Math Units:
CH: Revised 10 September 2001 by William Irwin Thompson Math: Revised 23 September 2001 by Ralph Abraham |