10th Grade

Welcome to Core 10 of Cleveland’s Humanities Magnet Program! In Core 10, we continue the tradition of rigorous academia and our focus is on the Western world. There will be a bit of homework each night (mostly reading) in preparation for some invigorating discussions held in class the next day. Unlike 9th grade Core, students have four interdisciplinary classes in two periods: Art History (taught by Mr. Basinger), Literature (Mr. Posito), Philosophy (Ms. Peroff) and Social Institutions (Mr. Demail). You no longer have literature class all year long. Now, with each 10-week unit, students spend 5 weeks with each discipline. The point here is that students have each of the four teachers for only half the academic year. You will find below a brief overview of the curriculum covered in Core 10.

Unit 1: Ancient Greece and the foundations of Western civilization

CORE 10 examines the Ancient Greek Civilization by evaluating how the definition of virtue changed as the civilization progressed. We will examine how and why a barbarous group of people from the middle of the Mediterranean developed philosophy and democracy, laying the foundations for Western civilization.

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Unit 2: The Origins of Christianity

Our examination then moves to the Roman Empire with an emphasis on its social and political transition from Republic to Empire. We conclude the unit with an analysis of how the Roman Empire embraced and was ultimately transformed by Christianity.

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Unit 3: The Rise and Fall of the Catholic Church

As the Roman Empire declined, the papacy became the dominant social and political institution in Europe. After analyzing such a rise, the unit concludes with a look at the internal and external challenges that led to the weakening of the Catholic Church.

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Unit 4: The Enlightenment and Revolutionary Thinking

With the fall of the Catholic Church, new scientifically based social, economic and political structures rose to replace it. Western Europe was transformed by the Enlightenment, revolutionizing society and industry.

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