Integrated Humanities

The Individuals and Societies Department offers an “Integrated Humanities” course to our MYP students. This course is a lavish spread – a smorgasbord of concepts right from the prehistoric to the most recent developments. Intrigued by our past, while being hopeful about the future, our students observe, understand and reflect how people and societies behave.

Throughout this month, students of MYP-3 have been gathering information about how societies are governed. Class discussions based on powerful people around the world paved a way to reflect upon the use/misuse of power in different systems that were evolved to govern societies. Interestingly, students observed that the efficacy of every system depended upon how power was used, and by whom.

This week the students have been looking at aspects of monarchy and its glorious past. It gave them an opportunity to gather information about specific monarchs who considered themselves divinely supreme or exclusively special. This led the class to wonder what makes someone special … what makes me special?

Consequently, an unexpected avenue of self-discovery opened up. Am I different? Am I special? Do I have qualities that could make me a responsible person in power? The students were encouraged to reflect on their attitudes in daily life which determine how different they are. The spectrum of thoughts and anecdotes that gushed through stitched in a hope that these teenagers are responsible members of their local and global communities.

While societies, communities and countries continue to be governed, I encourage you all to take a moment to reflect on what makes you special!