The Lower School Social Studies curriculum is designed to introduce skills and foster an understanding of the basic foundation skills of social studies: geography, history, sociology, anthropology, economics, and political science. The first-year curriculum is centered on learning about neighborhoods and cities and on exploration and discovery. The second year focuses on communities, and students study in depth the Alaskan Eskimo and Australian Aborigine. Third-grade students study the uses and conservation of natural resources and participate in projects related to conservation of natural resources. The fourth grade uses a humanities curriculum that focuses on Texas; the boys study the history and geography of our state and its people. Appropriate map skills are taught in grades one through four.

The Middle School Humanities curriculum is designed to help the student to achieve a global appreciation of man and society, to allow the student to participate in a program that is both multicultural and interdisciplinary, to encourage the student to develop a mentor relationship with a faculty member at each respective grade level, and to equip the student with reading, writing, research, and critical thinking skills. The curriculum offers a series of perspectives from which the student can approach the diversity of human experience. Each year’s study will focus on a set of themes which will allow the student to make connections across cultures, time periods, and academic disciplines in order to broaden his understanding of what it means to be human.

The Upper School Social Studies curriculum is a combination of required core courses and electives. The core courses are designed to help students gain an understanding of and appreciation for their cultural heritage and to develop a sense of historical perspective in a confusing and rapidly changing world. The courses continue to emphasize and build upon the skills and concepts introduced in the Middle School curriculum.

The elective courses offered at the eleventh and twelfth grades afford students the opportunity to pursue their individual interests. Enrollment in Advanced Placement sections is limited to those students who demonstrate the capacity for advanced work by their willingness to participate in high-level class discussions, their independence of thought, and their excellence of achievement in the study of history. AP courses require work that is both broader and deeper than that of regular courses.

Typically, students take Ancient and Medieval History and Religion in grade 9 or 10, take Western Civilization in grade 10 or 11, and take U.S. History in grade 11 or 12.

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