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This is a taste of Dani Seiss’s article at the Georgetown Day School website:
DS’s High School Minimster offers students a unique opportunity to learn about new and varied subjects as they step away from regular classes for three days to engage in a more direct, experiential approach to learning. The subjects of study, based on the passions and expertise of the faculty and staff at GDS often take students far afield from their conventional curriculum and school-related activities.
This year, high school students selected from 32 different courses, including reproductive justice, making comics, the sport of curling—even a native landscaping/camping adventure. Thirteen new courses made their debut in addition to those that have proven to be impactful learning experiences and/or favorites with students. Many of these have been honed and modified over time.
Among the tried and true, is “A View From the Other Side,” organized by History teachers Lisa Rauschart and Sue Ikenberry. For their course, the teachers took the students on a field trip to Messiah University, a private Christian University in Pennsylvania, to expose them to views and perspectives they were less familiar with, in line with the GDS mission to develop empathetic, informed citizens who honor the integrity and worth of each individual.
“Both of us were concerned by the numbers of students who reported feeling shut down by many of their peers (and some adults) because they disagreed in part or whole with ideas, policies, and practices being advocated by the majority,” said Lisa and Sue about why they created their Minimester course. At the same time, they were also worried about the students who found it easy to demonstrate that they were on the ‘right side’ without really thinking deeply about issues, ideas, or the people involved. They hoped exposing students to more points of view could help them to move beyond their assumptions.
“We started to think about the ways we could craft an experience for our students that would get them to understand and appreciate some views from the other side—and the individuals behind them,” they said.
In describing the course experience, Lisa said, “The experience of working with a professor and students who are very different in their religious beliefs than GDS students was interesting and revealing. Students learned a bit more about the distinctions in Christianity that many don’t know much about, but which are important for understanding the way such beliefs impact political thought.”
John Fea, a Professor of American History and Chair of the History Department at Messiah wrote about GDS’s visit in a blog entry in which he said: “The GDS students were smart, civil, and respectful. We need more of these kinds of face-to-face interactions in America right now.”
Read the rest here.
