<p>I just received the viewbook for many schools and was wondering about this.</p>
<p>Kind of a bummer, since I'm extremely into philosophy.
Is it because most schools want us to focus on academic subjects (main 4) for freshman year? Are there any exceptions?</p>
<p>DA offers both philosophy and religion as trimester electives for underclassmen. One trimester is required for graduation for all three and four year students.</p>
<p>i think its because they dont want students to be too overwhelmed their first yr</p>
<p>Can’t speak for other schools, but Exeter students can take religion courses as electives in their freshman (prep) year - and our son will be taking one in the Spring term.</p>
<p>My son is taking a wonderful religion class his very first term at Exeter and the history elective his has spring term probably has a fair dose of philosophy in it as well.</p>
<p>Also, it’s kind of hard to escape philosophy, religion and psychology when English and History courses are taught well. I wouldn’t fret about it. It is likely that you’ll get a good dose of those subjects in your other courses, especially at schools with an integrated humanities curriculum.</p>
<p>He doesn’t find the religion course any more difficult that his other classes, but then again, all of his classes are pretty challenging. He likes it a lot, though. </p>
<p>This is a great question to bring up in your interviews.</p>
<p>@ 1012mom: Thank you for the info! I’m not sure I’ll be applying to Deerfield though…
bookluvr07: good point, probably. ):
Mainter: alright, thanks. Part of the reason I’m looking to apply to prep schools are the good courses in that area. (:
neatoburrito: thanks for the good info. Yeah I suppose all the humanities are part of one another either.
and I will.</p>
<p>To tell you the truth, I don’t think 9th graders are ready for intensive courses in Philosophy. I am a senior and still find much of the Philosophy reading I do very difficult. The depth of Philosophy a freshman can handle is probably not worth studying, especially when one can just wait till their junior or senior year.</p>
<p>At Blair many 9th graders take the Freshman Cycle as a 6th course. It covers 3 subject areas: applied art/ comparative religions/ music history. After that additional courses in philosophy, religion, and psychology can be added, often as a 6th course. It is best to cover the 5 core academic areas all or most of your high school years.</p>
<p>Just to add on, at DA freshmen and sophomores only can take Judeo-Christian Studies, Ethics, all grades can take Eastern Philosophy, and juniors and seniors only can take Political Philosophy or Religions of the World.</p>
<p>Although, DA steers all freshmen into Physics as a bonding activity. Our child initally signed up for something else, but the Dean convinced us to switch to physics. It’s our kid’s only class that’s all freshmen.</p>