Humanities
The Humanities department has two main goals. First, it strives to offer a selection of courses in English and history that add breadth, context and perspective to a student's chosen artistic field. Second, it challenges students to meet the increasingly rigorous academic standards of college and university admissions, stressing the skills of clear and thoughtful writing, analytical reading, careful research, and informed and articulate judgment. Given these objectives, the department understands its mission as a supportive and engaged facilitator of the conversation between arts and academics at Idyllwild Art Academy.
Statement of Classroom Ethics for the Humanities
The purpose of the Humanities department at Idyllwild Arts Academy is to provide students with the skills to deal confidently and creatively with difficult issues in ways that inspire mature, tolerant, responsible, and independent responses to the world we inhabit. The department understands the study of the Humanities as a richly contested narrative tradition of values, ideas, events and histories. With this in mind, the Humanities classroom is a learning environment that encourages multiple perspectives, historical comparisons and critical questioning, where students are also expected to work towards analytical reading, clear thinking, and thoughtful writing. This ethic of learning seeks to provide students with an appreciation for and comfort with the conflicts and differences that mark the many interpretations of the Humanities. Therefore, it requires faculty and students to explore controversial issues concerning gender, sexual orientation, religion, race, and language, among many others.
Honors Courses in the Humanities
The Humanities department offers a series of honors courses in the 11th and 12th grades. They entail a far more rigorous and challenging curriculum than the standard courses at these grade levels. The reading assignments are more complex and provocative, requiring students to invest more time, critical analysis, and creative energy in the study process. These courses also demand that students consistently write and think with increased argumentative sophistication, critical insight, thoughtfulness, and clarity. In short, they not only provide greater depth of subject matter and more interesting opportunities for independent learning, but they also commit the student to a heavier academic workload that may at times impinge upon a student's devotion to arts classes. The following are the minimum requirements for all honors classes in the Humanities department at Idyllwild Arts Academy.
1. Humanities honors classes have a maximum of 18 students per class.
2. All applicants must have an academic GPA of 3.8 or higher.
3. All applicants are required to write an in-class essay during a scheduled 40 minute X-Block period. They will answer one of several questions pertaining to the study of either literature or history.
4. All applicants must also submit at the time of their scheduled X-Block a graded writing sample for their current history or English teacher to evaluate. Samples must be accompanied by a type-written assessment explaining how the student responded to the teacher’s comments and criticisms of their work.
All new incoming applicants are required to write an in-class essay in a scheduled 40-minute testing session during student orientation week in early September. They will answer one of several questions pertaining to the study of either literature or history. Students must also submit at the time of their scheduled in-class essay a graded writing sample. Samples must be accompanied by a typewritten self-assessment explaining how the student responded to the teacher’s comments and criticisms of their work.
5. All applicants are then evaluated by the Humanities department faculty regarding their academic work ethic, class participation, reading and writing skills, and intellectual curiosity.
6. All honors students are required to read one assigned text for each of the honors English and history courses over the summer break that precedes the start of the new academic year.