Curriculum

Tentative Curriculum Outline 

An Emerging Nation
  • Pre-Revolutionary America:
    • Cultural: Congregationalism in the New World
    • Political/Military: The Enlightenment and Whig Ideology
    • Economic: Salutary Neglect, Mercantilism, The Birth of Capitalism in America
  • The American Revolution and the Critical Period
    • Political/Military: The Battles of The Revolution
    • Political/Military: A New Nation Asserts Itself
Sectional Divisions in America
  • America in a New Century
    • Political/Military: Jeffersonian and Jacksonian Democracy, the Foundation of Political Parties, the War of 1812, Missouri Compromise
    • Cultural: Republican Motherhood in the Empire for Liberty
  • The Settlement of the West
    • Political/Military: Louisiana Purchase and the Empire for Liberty, Manifest Destiny
    • Cultural: Indian Removal and the Trail of Tears, The Emergence of an American Identity
  • The Road to Civil War
    • Political/Military: The Slavery Issue Divides a Nation
    • Economic: King Cotton against Northern Industry
    • Cultural: Abolition and Temperance Sentiments
  • The Civil War and the Aftermath
    • Political/Military: The Major Battles of the War, Reconstruction
    • Cultural: The Civil War Amendments, The Emergence of the “Lost Cause” Ideology
    • Economic: Rebuilding the South in a New Economy
America as an Economic Powerhouse
  • The Gilded Age
    • Political/Military: Government Corruption from the Presidency to the State Government
    • Economic: The Second Industrial Revolution in America, The Gospel of Wealth
    • Cultural: The Gospel of Wealth and American Entrepreneurship, Realism in American Society
America on the World Stage
  • Imperialism and Roosevelt’s Big Stick
    • Political/Military: America Takes Its Shot at Empire, World War I and the Fight in Europe
    • Cultural: Progressivism and Women’s Rights
    • Economic: Teddy Roosevelt the “Trust-Buster”
  • The Roaring 20s
    • Political/Military: Isolationism and a Retreat from World Affairs
    • Economic: A Consumerist Society Emerges
    • Cultural: The Lost Generation and Literature
  • The Great Depression and World War II
    • Political/Military: Government Meddles with Corporate America, World War II and America’s Fight for Democracy
    • Economic: The New Deal
    • Cultural: Fighting Poverty and Fascism at Home, Women in the War
  • Cold War to Present Day- A Superpower is Born
    • Political/Military: The Truman Doctrine, McCarthyism, and Fighting Communism Abroad, The Great Society and New Liberalism
    • Economic: The Expansion of the American People’s Standard of Living
    • Cultural: The Civil Rights Movement and the Wave of Liberal Reform, The Rise of Suburbia and the Counterculture Movement

Curriculum Specifics

Rather than a generic classroom curriculum focused on breadth over depth, we will examine US History through a thematic approach that enables students to better understand the details of American history. A model of this approach would be for an instructor to schedule his lesson plan around a theme such as “slavery.” In this module, students would explore the complexity of the issue, and how the idea of stark dichotomy between the tolerant North and the oppressive South is a product of contemporary society’s imagination.

But even though students would explore issues like slavery through a historical lens (examining primary and secondary sources), our paramount goal is to present the study of history as a fun, engaging, and interesting field, which helps to maintain their interest throughout the session. To achieve this goal, each instructor will include in his curriculum designated times to play history board and computer games, and other fun activities that have some aspect of history involved.

Nevertheless, we will still place academic expectations on these kids since we want their writing to be that of emerging historians. Thus, at the end of the first week, students will have chosen a topic within the time period of the class to write a short research paper using primary sources and secondary sources from the library in addition to nightly reading that would assist them in choosing a topic. By the end of the second week, the students will have each written a refined three-page research paper on a topic that they are uniquely interested in. The main goal of the curriculum is to create intellectual curiosity in the students towards the study of American history.
We would like to thank our anonymous benefactor for contributing to the development of the historical passion of youth of New Orleans.
300 Park Road, Metairie, LA 70005 (504) 837-5204
Established in 1929, Metairie Park Country Day School is a coed private school for New Orleans area students in early childhood through Grade 12. From the elementary grades through upper school, the care and cultivation of each child comes to life in our exciting academic program, creative arts, and competitive athletic offerings.

Country Day accepts qualified students without regard to race, color, disability, gender, sexual orientation, religion, national or ethnic origin.