波士顿在人类历史中的地位，非正式地称为 "根与芽"，是所有六年级男生必须参加的课程。学生们通过研究世界历史事件如何塑造了我们的身份和我们的生活方式，对波士顿的历史根源有了一个全球视野。学生们还探讨了从波士顿的历史中萌发出来的新芽，它们的影响超出了城市的范围，有时甚至是全球范围。通过强调地理、技术和宗教在影响各种人类系统（政治、经济和社会）方面的相互作用，学生有机会研究人们的运动和他们在时间中的方式，以更好地了解波士顿在人类历史中的地位。重点是发展历史学家的技能，了解历史上波士顿治理的演变，以及欣赏波士顿作为移民土地上的一个国际大都市。

在5月份， 五年级的 公民单元 是在六年级历史课程中奠定的治理基础上进行的扩展。该单元旨在加强学生对政府运作方式的理解，并探索个人通过参与政府和与政府互动能够并确实发挥作用的方式。重点是选举程序、陪审团职责、兵役、知情权和通向公民身份的道路。本课程由团队授课，并受益于特邀专家的演讲。

Forces of Global Change, required of all boys in Class IV, begins in the 1500s, focusing first on the interaction between the peoples of the Atlantic World (comprising Africa, the Americas, and Europe); secondly on the peoples of the Indo-Pacific World (comprising East Asia, Southeast Asia and the Indian Subcontinent, the Middle East, East Africa, and Oceania); and finally on the global interaction of all areas in the late-19th, 20th and 21st centuries. The course seeks to provide students with an awareness of the uniqueness of cultures in different parts of the world while understanding the interactions and interconnectedness of different civilizations across hemispheres and the globe. For each region, students will focus on how regions are politically organized, major religions, intellectual developments, and the visual arts and architecture. In addition to skills development in crafting essays, documented papers, and oral presentations, students research, produce, and orally defend a model or reproduction of a building (or group of buildings), historical scene, work of art, artifact from anywhere in the world, or piece of music, making deep and explicit connections to historical themes or ideas from the course, analyzing artistic principles and concepts, and applying rhetorical skills.

Modern European History is an elective for members of Class III. Through the study of European history from 1450 (the High Renaissance) to the present, this course traces major developments in political and diplomatic history against a backdrop of social and economic change, creating the context for better understanding contemporary institutions and modern intellectual and cultural forces that fundamentally shape our world today. Emphasis will be placed on analysis of both historical evidence and historical interpretation through class discussion and expression of historical understanding in writing. Because the narrative of European history necessarily involves engagement with the global economic force of imperialism and global conflicts (WWI & WWII), this course seeks to lay a sure foundation for the study of U.S. History and other history department electives.

World Religions, Philosophies, and Multigenerational Histories is an elective for members of Class III. As complex features of history, religions and philosophies deal with life’s big questions and can inform people’s sense of morality in positive ways, but they can also interact with changing social systems and political ideologies with harrowing historical consequences.  In this course, documentary videos provide the 30,000 foot view of the Communist Revolution in China, apartheid in South Africa, the plight of refugees in war-torn Iraq, and the dislocation of indigenous people in the U.S. and Canada. This sets the stage for reading multigenerational, family histories that make the period accessible and observable as different generations of the same family respond to historical change across time. The study of Taoism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Islam, and Native American religion exposes students to the richness of world religions and philosophies as a subject of study, and the family histories of 21st century authors Trevor Noah, Thaer Abdallah, Richard Wagamese, and Scott Tong make the lived experience of their families relatable, and the history itself unforgettable. Methods for exploring one’s own family history receive particular emphasis in this course, including a capstone podcast project in lieu of a final exam.

Required of all boys and taken in either Class I or Class II, this course is designed to develop historically literate citizens with an empathetic understanding of the complexity of the American experience as well as a love for the critical study of our nation’s past. The course focuses on three core themes: 1) constancy and change in economic and social realities; 2) watershed changes in American political life and interpretations of government’s role in protecting life, liberty, and property; and 3) America’s place in the world. Students conduct research for a major paper, selecting from topics relevant to one of the course units (as determined by the instructor). In the final unit of the course, students undertake an oral history project connected to recent American history. Core readings are supplemented with numerous primary source documents. 

Offered to members of Class I, Economics the study of choices that individuals, firms, and societies must make as they use scarce resources to provide for material well-being. This course presents the tools of micro- and macroeconomic analysis. Macro topics include the market system of economic organization, economic growth, productivity, the role of government, the financial system, inflation, unemployment, short-term economic fluctuations, exchange rate determination, and theoretical controversies. Micro topics include applications of supply and demand analysis, elasticity, production theory, the organization of industry (including monopoly and oligopoly), labor markets, income inequality, externalities, poverty, and trade. Whenever possible, we will consider international dimensions and comparisons. Students are asked to master introductory economic theory and analyze economic issues with some degree of sophistication. Students are also expected to be familiar with current economic events as presented in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, or The Economist. A major objective of the course is to introduce basic economic principles and the kinds of questions and techniques used by economists in their analysis. The course will also ask students to develop and demonstrate skills through a variety of assessments and modalities, including but not limited to essays, tests, projects, debates, problem sets, and in-class conversations. Later in the year, the course will focus increasingly on the real world applications of economics, and on the research and analysis that are required to explore this effectively.

Honors Law & Philosophy, offered to members of Class I who have taken U.S. History as a prerequisite in Class II, explores issues related to “Law & Society” during the first semester and philosophical thought related to “Creating a Common Good” during the second semester.

In the first semester, Law & Society provides an introduction to law and the American legal system with a focus on civil liberties and civil rights. The post-Civil War amendments to the Constitution (13th-15th), especially the 14th Amendment with its due process and equal protection guarantees, forever changed the legal landscape, though not immediately. Special emphasis will be placed on the evolution of state-based criminal law and the constitutionally-based criminal procedure that guides each stage of the criminal justice process: search and seizure, interrogations and confessions, arrests, bail hearings, jury empanelment, trial, and sentencing proceedings. Landmark Supreme Court cases will serve as the bedrock of our study, and students will gain exposure to (and practice with) performative legal skills. Many times a good lawyer is all that stands between the individual and the enormous power of the state, and many times the government is the only force that can ensure minority rights against a majority that would suppress them. Students will come to appreciate that the legal profession is a critical one for serving the public interest.

In the second semester, Creating a Common Good addresses the core philosophical question: What do we owe one another? Across time, this question has shaped the ideas of thinkers who have pursued something called a “common good.” How to define and achieve a common good has animated the reform movements, utopian experiments, protest literature, and identity politics that have emerged in response to social and political challenges throughout world history. Through its exploration of fundamental questions about the relationship between the individual, society, and the state, this course builds on the topics and concepts students study in Law & Society.  An intellectual history course at its core, Creating a Common Good offers students deep engagement with texts from global wisdom traditions that have influenced how we think about economic markets and morality, law and society, identity and urban geography, nature and technology, and education and democracy.

全球冲突，提供给在第二课堂中以美国历史为先决条件的第一课堂成员，将探讨二十世纪主要全球冲突的原因、过程和后果。

在第一学期，学生们将探索伟大的战争，或 "结束所有战争的战争"。以前的任何战争都没有看到工业、科学、技术以及欧洲、其殖民地和美国的大量人口在这样一场灾难性的冲突中走到一起。本学期我们将探讨这场战争在大西洋两岸的起因，它在世界各地的不同战线，种族和性别的作用（这场战争导致了美国人最大的一次赋权），以及塑造了欧洲、美国、现代中东、非洲和亚洲的后果。学生将重点阅读和分析各种主要和次要资料，并撰写几篇研究论文。 

在第二学期，学生将研究二十世纪中后期主要冲突的社会、政治和经济影响，从法西斯主义在意大利、日本和德国的兴起以及围绕基于种族的纯洁性和文化同质性的意识形态所造成的灾难开始。在此基础上，学生们将考虑美国的反应，因为它从一个孤立的时期到成为第二次世界大战的关键参与者和战后世界的核心设计师。探讨的主题包括拘留日裔美国人、妇女在劳动力中的影响、结束国防工业中的歧视、以及禁止武装部队中的歧视。使用RL校友乔治-韦勒的文本 首先进入长崎 作为背景，我们还将探讨开发和使用原子武器的道德问题。其他主题包括冷战的形成，以及作为军事威胁的非国家行为者的现代发展。教学方法将以课程阅读、原始资料分析、研究和历史写作为基础。

在课程结束时，学生应该能够有效地辩论重大的全球危机如何塑造了二十世纪以及美国在其中的作用。