The History Department at Liberty Common School includes economics and government classes, in addition to history classes. Courses go deep into Western history, including studies of ancient, middle ages, and the early modern period, through American contemporary history. Advanced Placement courses are deliberately centered around college preparation.

The professional educators in the History Department are bona fide experts of the content they teach. Their mission is to impart upon their students an appreciation for the wisdom, beauty, and truth found in the studies of ancient societies and in our own nation’s past, the capacity to think like historians, and competencies and aptitudes which will prepare them for the intellectual rigors of college. History Teachers’ guiding emphasis is to develop critical thinking through the careful reading of primary sources, but LCS students go beyond simply reading—they’re expected to understand the context and story behind the source.

The History Department educators work closely with LCS elementary-school teachers to sequence the curriculum. The high-school teachers add depth and detail to the broad contours of the K-8 Core Knowledge Curriculum. For example, where students learn the basics of classism in the French Revolution, high-school teachers provide nuance to that system through the distinction between privilege and wealth—always emphasizing primary sources.

History at LCS is a critical part of a classical curriculum that seeks to nourish in students an appreciation for wisdom, beauty, and truth found both in the study of ancient civilizations and in their own nation’s past. Teachers in the History Department do not undermine the achievements of historical figures because their shortcomings may offend current sensibility.

LCS’s history students become armed with background knowledge and sufficient analytical skills to objectively evaluate our nation’s place in the world through a deep appreciation of its history, and intensive study of related civilizations including their rising and falling. They should grasp nuances of relevant cultures including their languages, religions, governments and economies.

Coursework in this department is substantially more than learning dates and important historical figures. It is the story of how people subsisted, how economies worked, and what influenced the growth and decline of civilizations. This necessarily includes geography, agriculture, economics, technology, health, transportation, and other factors.

LCHS: HISTORY

Portrait of Frederic Bastiat. Author Unknown.