My courses that you can join.

IBDP History 

  A rigorous, university-level 2-year history course based on lectures and group discussion sessions and offered completely free of charge as a public service. Meant for students in the last 2 academic years before university. You must be enrolled in an IB school to actually sit the exams for academic credit, but you can also just take the course for academic enrichment, intellectual curiosity, and/or skill development.

Course Outline

Areas of study for cohort commencing 2023:


  • The comparative evolution of East Asian societies in the 19th and 20th centuries, and their interactions with each other and with Western powers.


  • The causes, course, and societal transformation brought about by industrialization in different countries (East Asia, Europe, Latin America).


  • The paths leading to armed conflict, using the Second World War in Asia and Europe as case study.


  • The emergence, nature and consequences of authoritarian states during the 20th century (East Asia, Latin America). 

 

These topics correspond with the following syllabus components in the IB History subject guide:


  • Paper 1: Prescribed subject 3: The move to global war


  • Paper 2:

A)  World history topic 7: Origins, development and impact of industrialization

B)  World history topic 10: Authoritarian states (20th century)


  • Paper 3: HL option 3: History of Asia and Oceania


In future offerings, the geographic focus of the syllabus will move between Asia, Europe, and the Americas, while the period focus will alternate between early modern and modern history.

Topics: History of East Asia

  • Challenges to traditional East Asian societies (1700–1868)


  • Early modernization and imperial decline in East Asia (1860–1912)


  • China and Korea (1910–1950)


  • The People’s Republic of China (1949–2005)


  • Japan (1912–1990)










Topics: Industrialization


  • United Kingdom (1750-1850)


  • United States (1850-1900)


  • Japan (1868-1910)


  • China (1950-1990)

 











Topics: Move to Global War


  • Japan and China in 1930s


  • Germany and Italy in 1930s)














Topics: Authoritarian States


  • China - Mao Zedong (1949-1976)


  • Singapore - Lee Kuan Yew (1959-1990)


  • Chile - Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990)


 














"How do I

sign up?"

To be considered for participation in the course, you will write to me at mrleon@herodotus-smith-academy.org and explain in no more than one page who you are, where you intend to go in life, and why you want to participate in the course. You must attach a copy of your school grades for the last 3 academic years (translated into English if necessary). Evaluation of your potential participation will go from there and will probably involve a video discussion during the summer. I have no idea how many bright scholars will find out and be truly interested, so I cannot tell you what your chances of getting in are. My aim is to amplify my reach beyond a single classroom in one school, but I’ll have to figure out the group capacity to make sure we can have truly fruitful seminar discussions.

IBDP Economics

  Finding standard economics textbooks unspeakably boring and unengaging, I am developing a case-study based IBDP Economics course, but do not anticipate offering until the academic year starting in September 2024 to first test out History in this "world classroom" format.

Academic Tutoring

My focus is on my public service classroom teaching and my lifelong study, but I do entertain selected tutoring assignments as a practical challenge that subsidizes my one expensive taste: my vast libraries. I have tutored students individually for countless hours, have prepared dozens of students for standardized tests, and strangely happen to consider the SAT a very fun and fulfilling personal hobby.

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