“I like to think that history can make the present strange. A knowledge of the past overturns the conventions we usually take for granted, be they gender roles, national borders, or the ordering of literature, by showing that conventions like these are neither natural nor necessary but instead are accidental and liable to change.”
Sophus Helle
The teaching of history at Pierrepont is grounded in two fundamental ideas: that students must be able to understand and analyze the structures, systems, and practices of the communities and societies in which they live today, and that none of these systems were inevitable, but rather are contingent on the times and places in which they have developed, and are therefore changeable.
What is the overall approach of the history program?
To be able to understand how and why the world looks the way it does today, students study the many different ways humans have organized themselves and their communities in the past through a global lens. Over the course of a complete Pierrepont history education, students will encounter 7 million years of history, from traces of our earliest hominid ancestors to the most recent Supreme Court decisions. They will study the material and textual remains of ancient cultures on the other side of the world and right in their backyard. They will consider the ways historians have used these remains to construct varying narratives and stories about the past, and how the questions we ask of these sources can change the stories we tell. By studying the diverse and varied ways humans have built societies and cultures in the past, students are invited to imagine other futures in our present.
What sources and themes will students encounter in their study of history?
From the youngest students on, our curriculum emphasizes primary sources, both text and material culture. By closely analyzing and contextualizing these sources from the perspectives of the individual(s) who created them, we consider how people and communities throughout history have worked within and against the systems (environmental, political, religious, economic, of gender, class, or race) that defined their lives. We consider cause and effect, how people within and outside of these systems are linked, and how historical choices have both intended and unintended consequences, many of which resonate down to our present day.
What is the overall goal of the History program at Pierrepont?
To succeed in the complex work of a Pierrepont history classroom, students commit themselves to slow, deep, and close engagement with their sources, through the guidance of their teachers and peers. In small, intimate classrooms, students build trust to collaborate and challenge themselves to develop and clearly express their own ideas about history and their world in discussion and writing. This requires curiosity, openness to new perspectives on different cultures and viewpoints, vulnerability, and a willingness to revisit, revise, and reexamine their beliefs, ideas, and observations. We do not study history through one fixed narrative, but rather consider how we construct and reconstruct history each time we grapple with it.