Grades 11-12
Elective
Two Years
Prerequisites: Students enrolled in Global Scholars must complete 5 AP courses by the end of their senior year. They must attain the level of ‘intermediate low,’ as determined by the World Language Dept, in a language of their choice.
The Global Scholars Program at Park Tudor School is a capstone academic experience in which uniquely motivated students have the space and opportunity to become intellectually engaged and think rigorously about meaningful topics; develop the courage and self-direction to reflect on the transformative nature of purpose-driven inquiry; nurture the responsibility to participate effectively in scholarly dialogue; and advance resourcefulness and integrity required to transform ideas into purposeful, community-engaged action.
Philosophies of Knowing (POK) is the centerpiece of the Global Scholars experience. It is a class environment in which students are asked to grapple with challenging concepts and unanswerable questions in order to gain heightened self-awareness and confidence. It meets twice a week for two years, at the end of which, students present a self-chosen, self-directed paper to the Park Tudor community, which is the culmination of their independent research.
After an introduction to the different branches of philosophy, the first year begins with an inquiry into logic and reasoning. Students learn to identify deductive and inductive arguments and the various types of fallacies. This is followed by an exploration into epistemology and gives students practice in reflecting on the definition and nature of knowledge, the hierarchy of knowledge, and how we know what we know. In the second semester of the junior year, students explore the nature of moral judgments, how value systems and political systems are derived, and how humans consider ethical problems and make moral decisions.
With this background, students move during the second year to the exploration of metaphysics, Stoicism, the philosophy of language and sociolinguistics, hermeneutics, and other axiologies such as aesthetics. The final semester is tailored to the needs of the specific needs of the scholars in terms of their chosen content, the writing process, and making formal connections from one discipline to another. The final portion of the last quarter is spent preparing the presentation of their individual research projects.