Bard High School Early College DC (Bard DC) – College Year 2 Seminar I

Apr 2026 · 2nd Semester

This course explores the development of key ideas central to the way we think about modernity. It focuses on the ways in which a diverse range of 19th- and early 20th-century thinkers both shaped and challenged the shape of the emerging modern world. Through rigorous study of evocative novels and works of political, social and psychoanalytic theory, the seminar asks students to think and write critically about concepts that have revolutionized the world in the last 150 years and continue to provide the framework for vital contemporary debates. In a time when diasporas blur boundaries in national identity, this course expands from earlier geographic notions of Western civilization toward a more global, international outlook. Through intensive reading of primary materials, in conjunction with related readings in secondary sources, students learn to read sources critically at varying speeds, in relation to their intended purposes for the materials. In doing so, students raise their skills of critical thinking to ever higher levels.