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