Learning History at Acton

Why do we learn history? What does learning history look like at Acton?

Often, history in schools becomes about memorizing dates, people, and names of battles. Our private school does it differently.

Our Eagles are currently stationed in Ancient Greece. They’re not memorizing words like Polis, Agora, or names of philosophers like Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. They’re also not memorizing the dates of the different major periods in Ancient Greece history.

There are no quizzes or tests.

Instead, over the past week, we have had Socratic discussions where our Eagles discuss topics such as the role of men vs women in Ancient Greece, what it may have been like living then vs. today, and what are some of the same struggles we see today that existed back then.

There are no simple memorized answers here. Our Eagles are developing their critical thinking skills. They are learning about the importance and impact of Ancient Greece - not by memorizing dates but by discussing how people in that Era may have lived.

In addition, they’re learning about what happened there by actually doing some of the things the people of Ancient Greece did. This week they built a chariot and a Yo-yo. They participated in games played back then.

The value of history does not come from memorizing dates for a test. It comes from having a deep understanding of the past that we can appreciate and apply to lessons in the future.