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The Quinn-Ferguson Honors Seminar: Your Life As History. 

This unique honors seminar at Mercersburg Academy (www.mercersburg.edu) offers a select group of upper-middlers and seniors who have demonstrated a significant ability to work independently and to contribute meaningfully to a seminar style class the opportunity to study key historical developments beginning with the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.  The seminar is broad in scope and interdisciplinary in nature.  Students analyze major political, economic, social and cultural developments that have shaped the past two decades and that will likely shape the coming decades.  Students engage in research and problem solving in collaborative ways with the goal of gaining depth of understanding and the ability to problem-solve as part of the response to the topics and issues being studied.

The seminar is mainly taught by one teacher but also involves numerous presenters, including current faculty and other experts in their fields of study.  In addition to readings and discussions, many of which will be student led, participants in The Quinn-Ferguson Honors Seminar also engage in group projects that may take the form of a debate or presentation, a video, a journal article, or the creation of a website.  It is expected that travel for lectures, briefings or other course-related reasons will be an important part of the seminar experience.

Topics:  Because of the fluid nature of this course, the topics are likely to shift.  Listed below, then, is our first draft of probable topics.

·  Discussion of The Next 100 Years by George Friedman

·  Civil Liberties:  Biological Predeterminism, Criminal Guilt & The Rule of Law

·  Homeland Security:  Homegrown Jihadists

·  Foreign Policy:  Human Rights & Promoting Democracy Abroad

·  Foreign Policy:  US-China relations

·  Foreign Policy:  Drone Warfare & the Use of Weapons in Space

·  Demographic:  The Graying Planet

·  Demographic:  The Gendercide Crisis

·  International:  Is Europe Falling Apart?

·  International:  Human Trafficking, Slavery & Child Soldiers

·  International:  The Future of Food

·  International:  Drug Cartels & Prospects for Democracy in Latin America

·  International:  Russia in Turmoil

·  International:  Rising Tension over Iran

·  International:  The Arab-Israeli Conflict

·  International:  Future of the Gulf States

·  Economic:  Evaluating Microfinance

·  Economic:  Globalization

·  Cultural:  Evolution of the English Language

·  Cultural:  The Future of Religion

·  Cultural:  Is the Internet Changing the Way We Think?

·  Education:  Fixing Urban Schools

·  Science & Technology:  Designer Humans & Reproductive Ethics

·  Science & Technology:  Cancer

·  Science & Technology:  Genes and Health

 

Independent Research Project: 

Each student will be engaged in a yearlong independent research project involving one, two or three topics of interest to the student.  During the summer, students should be researching possible topics and should come back to Mercersburg knowing which topic or topics they wish to cover.  Students must also have begun finding valuable research sites, texts and other sources during the summer.

During the fall term, the student will meet once per week with a faculty mentor chosen by that student.  The mentor will work with the student to further refine the student topic(s), to offer tips on research, to keep track of student progress, to encourage the student, and to honestly assess the strengths and weaknesses of the student’s project.  During the week prior to fall term exam week, each student will submit a 10-15 page research paper to Mr. Kantaros and to the mentor.  Mr. Kantaros will grade each paper and give substantial written feedback, which will be shared with the mentor.  The paper grade, which will incorporate feedback from the mentor concerning student effort and initiative, will constitute a major portion of the student’s fall term grade.    

In the winter term, the student will further hone his/her arguments, in consultation with the mentor, and will submit a final version of the paper at the end of the first interim.  Mr. Kantaros will grade and return the paper with comments.  The grade on the final version will constitute a major portion of the student’s winter term grade.  During the second interim of the winter term, the student will begin converting the written information to a video format.  In the spring term, each student will finish work on his/her video by the end of the first interim of the spring interim.  The grade on the video project will constitute a major portion of the student’s spring term grade.