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Seniors Ponder, "What Does the Future Hold for the Middle East?" |
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For four weeks this fall, the senior class at Waldorf High School was immersed in an in-depth, interdisciplinary study of the Arab Spring movement. Again this year, the teachers created a new main lesson focused on a current “hot topic,” (last year it was the Gulf Oil Spill), integrating the humanities and sciences. Since the twelfth grade curriculum as a whole is about synthesizing the “big picture” and preparing to step into the world as an adult, taking up a current event theme is a natural way for the students to experience this with a group of teachers in a deeply holistic way.
Waldorf High School humanities teacher Barret Fabris is directly involved in the current day to day operations of the Arab Spring as the senior research analyst and international affairs advisor for the Bahrain Center for Human Rights. In this position, he has had the opportunity to speak with both foreign press and domestic and foreign leaders in the region. Moreover, in conjunction with the Bahrain Center for Human Rights and other political parties in the country, he recently wrote an in-depth study on the human rights abuses seen in Bahrain during the Arab Spring, which has been presented to foreign dignitaries in the United Nations, United States and Western Europe. He began the Arab Spring study with a detailed look at the current events and recent history of several key areas of the Middle-East, including Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Bahrain, Syria, Palestine, and Saudi Arabia, and other politically and economically linked countries. Students watched a number of documentary interviews, news reports, and commentaries and discussed them in the context of the overall picture of evolving events in the region. Mr. Fabris set the tone and context of these discussions by placing them in the larger picture of Middle Eastern history and the changing relationships between the area and the West.
The roll of social media and other new communications technologies during the revolutions was a topic of special attention and lively discussion. Students also took a hard look at the changing economics of the world, from the middle-east and Europe to our own nation, including wealth distribution and the specific economic causes of unrest and ongoing change both at home and in the “cradle of civilization.”
Cedar Oliver stepped in during the second week to focus on the science of oil and its technological and social context in modern history and the Middle East in particular. To understand how energy comes from oil, students built molecular models of hydrocarbons, both with traditional “ball and stick” modeling tools and with their own bodies in motion. They then looked in depth at three phases of the industrial revolution, from the coal-based energy and print-based communication systems of the nineteenth century, to the oil-based economy and telecommunications of the twentieth century, to the emerging renewable energy movement and global Internet. Along the way, they examined some of the social products of the industrial revolution, including large hierarchical corporations and governments and discussed how more laterally organized energy technologies are altering those structures both on the Arab peninsula and worldwide.
During the third week of the main lesson, Chuck Claus led the seniors in examining the diverse religious history of the Middle East, including a special focus on understanding Islam in its multi-faceted role as the cultural and spiritual center of the Arab world. As countries in the Middle East move toward greater democracy, many claim they will become increasingly Islamic, whether moderate and reform-oriented or theocratic and fundamentalist. Ramifications of these outcomes and the impact on United States and Western interests were explored and debated.
As the main lesson came to an end, Mr. Fabris took the seniors to New York City as invited guests for a discussion at NYU about the Arab Spring and its implications for the future of the region and the world. Students were able to engage with several of the guest speakers including the former U.S. ambassador to Egypt. The trip concluded with a tour of the United Nations. (In the photo above, seniors are in front of sculpture, "Non-violence" at the UN.) Fortuitously, a new student from Saudi Arabia, Montasir, also joined the senior class as an international student that same week. We are excited to have Montasir as part of the Waldorf High School community for the rest of the year.
Wrapping up the four-week main lesson, the seniors brought together all their experiences, discussions, and studies into a cohesive set of work. Along with the world, they asked, “what does the future hold” for the Middle East and what inspirations and or cautionary lessons will we take from the Arab Spring for our own generation in the future? For four weeks this fall, the senior class at Waldorf High School was immersed in an in-depth, interdisciplinary study of the Arab Spring movement. Again this year, the teachers created a new main lesson focused on a current “hot topic,” (last year it was the Gulf Oil Spill), integrating the humanities and sciences. Since the twelfth grade curriculum as a whole is about synthesizing the “big picture” and preparing to step into the world as an adult, taking up a current event theme is a natural way for the students to experience this with a group of teachers in a deeply holistic way.
Waldorf High School humanities teacher Barret Fabris is directly involved in the current day to day operations of the Arab Spring as the senior research analyst and international affairs advisor for the Bahrain Center for Human Rights. In this position, he has had the opportunity to speak with both foreign press and domestic and foreign leaders in the region. Moreover, in conjunction with the Bahrain Center for Human Rights and other political parties in the country, he recently wrote an in-depth study on the human rights abuses seen in Bahrain during the Arab Spring, which has been presented to foreign dignitaries in the United Nations, United States and Western Europe. He began the Arab Spring study with a detailed look at the current events and recent history of several key areas of the Middle-East, including Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Bahrain, Syria, Palestine, and Saudi Arabia, and other politically and economically linked countries. Students watched a number of documentary interviews, news reports, and commentaries and discussed them in the context of the overall picture of evolving events in the region. Mr. Fabris set the tone and context of these discussions by placing them in the larger picture of Middle Eastern history and the changing relationships between the area and the West.
The roll of social media and other new communications technologies during the revolutions was a topic of special attention and lively discussion. Students also took a hard look at the changing economics of the world, from the middle-east and Europe to our own nation, including wealth distribution and the specific economic causes of unrest and ongoing change both at home and in the “cradle of civilization.”
Cedar Oliver stepped in during the second week to focus on the science of oil and its technological and social context in modern history and the Middle East in particular. To understand how energy comes from oil, students built molecular models of hydrocarbons, both with traditional “ball and stick” modeling tools and with their own bodies in motion. They then looked in depth at three phases of the industrial revolution, from the coal-based energy and print-based communication systems of the nineteenth century, to the oil-based economy and telecommunications of the twentieth century, to the emerging renewable energy movement and global Internet. Along the way, they examined some of the social products of the industrial revolution, including large hierarchical corporations and governments and discussed how more laterally organized energy technologies are altering those structures both on the Arab peninsula and worldwide.
During the third week of the main lesson, Chuck Claus led the seniors in examining the diverse religious history of the Middle East, including a special focus on understanding Islam in its multi-faceted role as the cultural and spiritual center of the Arab world. As countries in the Middle East move toward greater democracy, many claim they will become increasingly Islamic, whether moderate and reform-oriented or theocratic and fundamentalist. Ramifications of these outcomes and the impact on United States and Western interests were explored and debated.
As the main lesson came to an end, Mr. Fabris took the seniors to New York City as invited guests for a discussion at NYU about the Arab Spring and its implications for the future of the region and the world. Students were able to engage with several of the guest speakers including the former U.S. ambassador to Egypt. The trip concluded with a tour of the United Nations. (In the photo above, seniors are in front of sculpture, "Non-violence" at the UN.) Fortuitously, a new student from Saudi Arabia, Montasir, also joined the senior class as an international student that same week. We are excited to have Montasir as part of the Waldorf High School community for the rest of the year.
Wrapping up the four-week main lesson, the seniors brought together all their experiences, discussions, and studies into a cohesive set of work. Along with the world, they asked, “what does the future hold” for the Middle East and what inspirations and or cautionary lessons will we take from the Arab Spring for our own generation in the future? |
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