Providing a dynamic framework for the study of English and History, the ninth-grade humanities course encourages exploration of key themes in world history (from prehistoric times to the late 18th century, with connections made to current events), literature, politics, religion, art, and music. The course examines the changing nature of cultural values and the relationship between communities and the individual. As ninth-graders explore how people of the past made moral, spiritual, and intellectual sense of their worlds, they will hone their own skills as critical and creative readers, thinkers, and writers. Humanities History 9 is an Earned Honors course.

Providing a dynamic framework for the study of English and History, this course encourages exploration of key themes in world history (from the late 18th through the 20th century, including current events), literature, politics, religion, art, and music. In particular, the course examines the changing nature of cultural values and the relationship between communities and the individual. As students explore how individuals have made moral, spiritual, and intellectual sense of their worlds, they hone skills as critical and creative readers, thinkers, and writers. Students continue to develop skills in writing analytical essays, and emphasis is placed on techniques of close reading that encourage the discovery and use of textual evidence capable of promoting arguments of increasing sophistication and insight. Humanities History 10 is an Earned Honors course. Students must take Humanities History 10 on an Earned Honors basis to be eligible for advanced History classes in 11th grade.

Providing a dynamic framework for the study of American history from the Pre-Columbian period to the present, this year-long course encourages exploration of key themes in American history, prose, poetry, drama, politics, religion, art, and music. In particular, the course examines the changing nature of American cultural values and the relationship between communities and the individual, in the United States itself and the world at large. As students explore how Americans have made moral, spiritual, and intellectual sense of their experience, they hone skills as critical and creative readers, thinkers, and writers. As well as continuing to develop skills in writing analytical essays, students are expected to work independently as they originate, frame, and execute distinctive points of view. For this reason, the “Moments that Changed America” capstone essay requires that students write an extended essay on a topic that they identify using multiple sources. US History 11: The American Experience is an Earned Honors course.

This course is a study of U.S. history from the colonial period to the present. Although emphasis is placed on essay writing, students engage in a wide range of learning activities that assume introductory college level reading and writing skills. In class discussion and written evaluations, high priority is placed on development of critical thinking skills. This course includes preparation for the Advanced Placement exam in May.

In this college level, seminar-style course students will explore American history through a variety of lenses—democracy, economics, gender, race, and imperialism. Each quarter, students will examine the historiography of a specific sub-field and assess its merits and the limits to the perspective. Through this, students will actively assess American history in much the same way as professional historians and leading intellectuals. We will focus on how historians construct the past from a variety of sources, as well as the secondary literature dealing with select approaches to studying American history. To succeed in this class, students will need to read complex historical arguments and actively participate in class discussions.

Advanced Studies: Economics is a rigorous year-long course exploring micro- and macro-economics, essentially addressing the content of a first year college-level economics course. Students taking this course ideally have taken a previous economics course at MBS, but this is not a requirement.

This course will emphasize economics as a foundation for effective citizenship, highlighting the role of economics as a life and a job skill. Students will analyze economic data, graphs, and statistics. We will explore real-time data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, Bloomberg, and other sources. Students will apply theory to important issues and problems that shape our global society and individual decisions; both theory and application are deployed in considerable depth.

This course, a study of European history since 1450, introduces students to major cultural, economic, political and social developments that have shaped modern Europe. In addition to grasping the basic narrative of events and movements, students will analyze historical evidence and express historical understanding in writing. Students must take the AP Exam in May in order to receive course credit.

This seminar-style AS course will explore the Medieval era as it varied around the world. Topics of study will range from the recovery in Europe after the fall of Rome, to flourishing of Islam in its golden age, to impacts of the Silk road on central and eastern Asia and beyond. Course materials include a college-level textbook, primary and secondary sources, and scholarly journal articles. Strong interest and skills in reading and writing as well as consistent engagement and participation will be necessary for success in this class.

This honors course involves study of selected cases in the history of the United States Supreme Court, dealing with issues such as freedom of speech, press, and religion, race relations, the right to privacy, the rights of accused criminals, separation of powers and federalism. Students will gain insight into the effects of the Constitution and its interpretation on our daily lives.

Ecological Economics is an Honors Semester Elective in ecological
economics, environmental ethics and justice, policy studies and design. Using a sequence of expanding case studies, students will explore the craft of designing effective and ethical policy choices to respond to real world environmental challenges grounded in the reality of finite resources and planetary limits.


This course is cross-listed with Computational and Information Sciences.

Why is it so hard to hail a cab in the rain in New York City? Why do some people pay for annual gym memberships when they would save on a pay-as-you go basis? Why are monetary incentives generally unsuccessful in motivating workers? Behavioral economics helps us to understand why what happens in the world does not jive with classical economic theory: Why aren’t we as humans the textbook “Homo economicus”? Behavioral economics applies ideas from the social sciences to economics to help us understand better how we act, make decisions, and play—and has far-reaching implications for social dynamics and public policy. Behavioral economics is of driving current interest, and important contributions have been recognized by recent Nobel prizes (Daniel Kahneman in 2002 and Richard Thaler in 2017).

Sustainable, inclusive, and green demands are key elements in current business
practice—not only is their pursuit intrinsically ethical, but customers often demand such practices before working with a business. What policies will encourage a business to include the environment in their operations? What can we do to make an inclusive business, respecting other peoples and cultures? These concerns apply throughout a business—idea-generation, planning, marketing, manufacturing, supply-
chain management, merchandizing, technology deployment, process-flows, and resource-allocation. How are inclusiveness and sustainability good for your business? Our perspectives range from the business/firm to the macroeconomic level. The course will involve both analytical exploration and case-study analysis, including cases in ethical fashion.

This course explores the history of the African diaspora, including the transatlantic slave trade, the formation of African-American communities, and the contributions of Afro-descendants to the world. Students will study the diaspora's cultural, political, and economic impacts on Africa and the African diaspora communities.
This course is Earned Honors.

This semester-long history elective explores the tumultuous years when Mao Zedong ruled China (1949-1976). During this time, the country was engulfed in decades of upheaval designed to remake China in Mao’s revolutionary image. Although we will read about the Chairman’s life and his thought, we will focus primarily on life under Mao’s regime and try to understand the tension that still surrounds the memory of that foundational era in Chinese history. This course is reading and writing intensive, as students will be primarily assessed on their analysis of primary sources.
This course is Earned Honors.

This course examines the history of the Middle East with a focus on the 20th and early 21st Century. Themes include the rise and influence of Islam, nationalism, westernization, imperialism and democracy. U.S. involvement in the region over the past half century, as well as major figures and events that have made the region so volatile will also be discussed. Social, cultural and economic developments are integrated throughout the course.
This course is Earned Honors.

This course presents the origins, progression, and aftermath of military conflicts in the Indochinese Peninsula. Topics explored include the period before colonial influence, the era of French rule and the resistance it provoked, the emergence of the Vietminh during World War II, and the United States' involvement from 1950 onwards. The narrative also extends to the entanglement of the United States, Laos, and Cambodia in the ensuing conflicts. We will examine the role of nationalism and communism in 20th-century strife and the motives for U.S. intervention. In addition to acquiring substantive knowledge, students will hone essential skills such as analyzing and evaluating primary sources, effective oral and written communication, and collaboration.
This course is Earned Honors.

As the styles of the time period come back into fashion, explore a decade in recent history that made an impact in many ways on how we live today. Focusing on politics, technology, pop culture, and the media, this course will explore the time period from 1990-1999 through a variety of lenses. As we encounter the world in the waning days of the Cold War through primary sources and secondary analysis, we will explore how politics shaped culture and vice versa, how the media grew into what it is today, and dismantle preconceived notions of “what really happened” in some misremembered and forgotten history. Students will explore the cultural and political reverberations of the decade that impact their lives today.

This course will address the multiple and intersecting ways ethnicity, class, and gender shape society, individual life-chances, and daily social interactions. Studying the “socially-constructed” nature of these concepts, we will ask what meanings and values have been attached to them and inquire into the ways they help rationalize and justify social inequality. We will also discuss the role race, class, gender, and sexuality will play in the future, evaluating solutions to social inequality and strategies for social change. This course is not Earned Honors.

Social Media is an enormous part of our lives. Everyone uses some sort of social media in today's cultural and technological environment. This course will look at where social media came from and how media culture evolved over time. We will look at social media in other countries, consider the similarities and differences, and examine why such similarities and differences exist. We will spend a significant amount of time looking at social media and how parts of the brain react to it. From a neurological perspective social media affects different brain functions in unique ways; hence we will dive deeper into how social media habits can turn into social media additions. We will also consider digital citizenship and the importance of establishing appropriate boundaries in the digital world.

This course will serve as a general introduction to the academic study of criminology and justice. This course will focus on the sociological background of the field of criminology as well as current real world issues in the justice system of the United States. In addition to learning the basic theories and philosophies of the social science of criminology, the class will foster a stronger understanding of how race, class, and gender impact the way an individual moves through the American system of justice. This course is not Earned Honors.

In this class we will investigate and analyze public policies that marginalize groups based on ethnicity, gender, sexual identity and class. Our study will examine how public policy creates and reinforces institutionalized discrimination. We will consider the question: How can law change the ways ethnicity, gender, sexual identity and class shape contemporary social justice in America? This course is not Earned Honors.

In this course students will study the origins of our Constitution and how it has adapted to changing times. The class will study both the early years of the American republic and more contemporary issues of government and politics, including the roles of the media and interest groups. Featured aspects of the course are landmark cases in federalism, national security, civil rights and criminal law; the separation of powers and their historical evolution are also covered. This course is not Earned Honors.

This course covers the basic concepts of the field beginning with microeconomics (the study of individual consumer and firm behavior) followed by an introduction to macroeconomics (the study of the economy as a whole, especially issues related to output, unemployment, productivity, inflation, growth, and globalization). Every day, politicians and "experts" present claims about the economy and proposals to cure its alleged ills. This course will provide students with a basic understanding of the economy to help assess the merits and pitfalls of economic arguments. This course is not Earned Honors.