High School adds courses on African-American Literature and Film, Anthropology

Students in the High School will open the book on a new course focusing on African-American literature and an old faithful course, Anthropology, this school year.

The two courses are the only new ones being offered at the High School for the 2007-08 school year, Grades 11/12 Principal Hakim Jones said.

The African-American Experience through Literature and Film course “focuses on a variety of literary genre representative of the rich tradition of African-American writing.”

Taught by longtime RCS English Teacher Dominick Pannone, the course will provide RCS students an opportunity to explore the development of black self-expression and self-definition in literature, criticism, and the media, as well as potentially earn college credits through Hudson Valley Community College.

“Selected films will reinforce the reading and discussions by dramatizing key stages in the long struggle for freedom and civil rights,” noted the course guide.

The Anthropology course is being returned after nearly a decade absence at RCS.

The course studies when, where, and why human beings appeared on the earth.  It also examines how humans have changed since their appearance and why various human populations vary in certain physical features.

The main topics of study in the half-credit course will include:

• The origin of the human race
• How humans fulfill basic needs
• The development of tools and weapons
• The development of language and art
• The development of social, religious and political systems

New courses are offered at RCS only after a lengthy review process. A proposed course must be approved by building administrators, the Curriculum and Instruction team and the Board of Education being offered in the course guide.