Ninith grade: the year of contrasts

Ninth grade students live in a world of strong polarities. They are intensely aware of dramatic changes in their bodies and in their ability to think in new ways. The dynamics of these changes in body and mind can lead to inner struggle and even rebellion. The curriculum reflects this to the student by providing structure and order amid the tension of opposites. In physics, students experience the opposition of heat and cold; in chemistry, the expansion and contraction of gases; in history, the conflicts and revolutions of France, Russia and the United States; in geography, plate tectonics; in English, comedy and tragedy; in art, black and white drawing.

Before structure and order can be discerned, students must first learn careful and exact observation. They precisely describe and draw their science experiments before they arrive at any conclusions. In humanities classes they produce concise, complete, and accurate summaries of events and characters without sentimentality or unnecessary detail. The dramatic internal and external experiences of the students can be held in check by the clear thinking derived from accurate observation: a power that will serve as the foundation not only for study in the years ahead, but for life well beyond high school.

In addition to academic and artistic classes, students of the ninth grade experience a number of hands-on classes, including an on-site building project learning carpentry skills and use of power tools; basketry; clay sculpture and modeling; plus performing arts in drama, music, and eurythmy.

Tenth grade: the year of comparisons

After a year of contrasts, tenth grade students look for lawfulness in all things. Their physical bodies usually achieve more balanced proportions, with some measure of accompanying poise and confidence. Now they are interested in their origins and how the world came to be the way it is. The curriculum meets this with subjects that compare and contrast phenomena: in chemistry, the study of acids and bases; in physics, the principles of mechanics; in earth science, meteorology; in mathematics, trigonometry and logarithms; in embryology, aspects of the masculine and the feminine.

By observing balance in nature and in human events, the students can use their observations to find similarities, not just differences, in contrary phenomena. In the process, transformation and interdependence of seemingly opposing forces are observed. In the humanities, the study of ancient civilizations addresses questions of how cultural similarities and differences have affected the world. By looking beyond differences to find relationships, the students develop powers of comparison that can serve them all their lives.

Eleventh grade: the year of comprehention

As the word comprehend--meaning "to grasp together" -- implies, eleventh grade students are now ready to weave together the different threads from their experiences. With their individualities coming to the fore, they begin with growing independence to seek deeper answers to their questions and to express their own identities. The study of Rome, the Middle Ages and the Renaissance reflects their own personal explorations and development. The students' quest for ideals is also met in the literature studies of Parzival. In the sciences, the search for explanation of the unseen, for comprehension of that which is beyond the senses, is met in the study of the atom in chemistry, in the invisible phenomena of electricity in physics, and in projective geometry and mathematics, where parallel lines are followed to the point they share in three dimensions.

Eleventh grade students discover that, through the power of their own thinking, they can grasp what is beyond the visible, sense-oriented world; through their own independent analysis and abstract theorizing they can traverse invisible landscapes. The students also have time to explore their own areas of interest with individual research assignments, internships, and projects.

Twefth grade: the year of contribution

In the twelfth grade, the students are presented with ideas from many different perspectives. This enables them to move through analysis to synthesis. The study of world history, architecture, global issues, economics, Faust and the transcendalists brings divergent viewpoints to activate individual, independent thinking. The twelfth grade students want to understand the nature of the human being. In optics and acoustics, in biochemistry and in the studies of zoology and evolution, the human being is central, not from a glorified perspective, but as the link between the inner world of ideas and the outer practical world.

Through the curriculum, twelfth grade students come to know themselves in the context of the world in which they live. They can then freely develop their individual perspectives. They are ready to go into the world with an educated view of the human being and a sense of their place in the world. The culmination of their education is the ability to think for themselves with the confidence that they can make a positive contribution in life.