Social Studies

The vision of the Social Studies Department is to provide students with a historical foundation in understanding global issues. We aim to help them recognize how past events shape the present and how prior challenges relate to current concerns. We equip students to analyze world events thoughtfully and make informed decisions on how to understand, address, and resolve them.

We address questions such as:

• How can we know what really happened in the past?
• Are the benefits of progress worth the costs?
• Can we have both liberty and security?

The Social Studies Department requires three credits for graduation, typically with one year focused on world history and two years devoted to United States history. Alternate pathways through the curriculum are possible, and electives are offered in other topics such as government and psychology. See our Course Selection Guide for more detail.