Highland Hall High School

High School Curriculum at a Glance: (click here to download .pdf)

Ninth Grade

Ninth grade sees the unfolding of the force of intellect. The curriculum is based on presenting polarities, such as tragedy and comedy in the Humanities curriculum, as the foundation of abstract thinking. The ninth grade might be summed up in the question, “What is the world like?" The ninth grade curriculum is sensitive to the tremendous developmental changes students experience and provides the students with the opportunity of seeing their inner experiences reflected back to them in outer phenomena.

Tenth Grade

In tenth grade, the processes inherent in the study of math, science and language leads the student toward integration of their inner and outer world, of balancing opposites. They see the process of transformation over time, and the characteristic question is, “How has the world around me come about?” Students discover that in the balancing of opposites, new forms can arise, whether in clouds and tides or new chemical compounds. This discovery can prompt the desire to explore the origins of things,  whether  in  the beginnings of history or the history of the English language.

Eleventh Grade

By eleventh grade, students becomes more capable of self reflection, and can move with ease between analytical thinking and imaginative thinking. With a developing power of reason, the student now asks, “Why are things as they are?” and the curriculum allows the student to investigate areas of study not accessible to the experience of the senses (such as quantum theory.) Through this journey students become adept at abstract thinking and reasoning.

Twelfth Grade

The twelfth grade curriculum offers students ways to explore their genuine interest in the world and an objective approach to the disparate concerns of our times. The twelfth grade students are better able to integrate their thinking skills with a developing sense of responsibility for their own actions, and characteristically ask the questions: "Who am I? Who is the human being? What or who stands behind the outer play of events and natural phenomena, pulling them together into a synthesizing whole?"