Download World History Academic Focus

ACADEMIC EMPHASIS, NOT IDEOLOGICAL OR DEVOTIONAL: The topics covered in this course are meant to
achieve an academic/intellectual understanding of world history, not to promote or disparage a specific political
ideology or religious viewpoint.
Examples of topics in this course will include, but are not limited to:
 First, I will never challenge a student about what they think, or why they think it. That being said, there
are some students who may share ideas that are not mainstream in our community. Please know ahead
of time that just because I don’t openly disagree with the student, doesn’t mean I approve of their ideas
in any way.
 This is a world history course that seeks to provide a global view of the history of mankind. It is not a
religious or political course, even though it is impossible to learn world history without including politics
or religion.
 We do not cover the theory of evolution of mankind although Charles Darwin is identified as an important
scientist during the Scientific Revolution period.
 Influence of the major world religions on world history. We focus only on the basic elements of the five
major world religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism). To avoid the basics of these
religions would leave an unclear picture of the various conflicts between religions and would inadequately
demonstrate how these religions affect our world today. Most discussions will be on who, what, when,
and where these religions are predominate.
 Discussion of intellectual and philosophical developments.
 Discussion of contact between various cultures that often resulted in subjugation of peoples, imperialistic
policies, and incidents of xenophobia and racism. History is full of examples of evil actions some human
beings have committed against other human beings. Studying these things does not mean we are
promoting them, nor trying to promote hatred in retaliation. We are only trying to understand why these
things happened.
 Discussion of various economic and political systems and ideologies such as feudalism, capitalism,
communism, socialism, and fascism
 Discussion of the rise of terrorism in the United States and around the world, and the causes and
consequences of the U.S. led wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
 History is all about INTERPRETATION of historical facts, therefore the subject of history is quite often
controversial. You have the freedom to disagree or agree with anything that is said in this class as long as
you can back it up with historical evidence.
 I have my opinions about things, and I rarely share them in class. I am constantly learning more about
history. I seldom share my own views even though they would probably not conflict with those views of
most of our community. My general philosophy is to let students develop their own ideas on viewpoints. I
also believe as a parent my beliefs are modeled for my children alone. It is the parent’s responsibility to
guide their children’s values, not mine.
 I seek to take a balanced approach. Collecting historical data means that we ought to listen to a variety of
voices on a subject.
 All coursework is based on Georgia Standards. As of now, there are no Common Core Standards for social
studies, and we continue to use the approved standards set by the Georgia Department of Education.
https://www.georgiastandards.org/Standards/Georgia%20Performance%20Standards/World-History.pdf
Above all, feel free to contact me if you have any questions whatsoever about what we are studying, or why we
are studying it.