Napoleon Crossing the Alps by Jacques-Louis David in 1805
{Public Domain, via Wikipedia}
Last week our high schoolers wrapped up their first semester, and finished finals! They studied earnestly and we are so proud of their efforts and diligence. The week before their exams, history teacher Sarah Shotwell emailed a wonder-full note to us, which we are pleased to share with you today:
As we prepare for finals, I always love it when students come to offers hours to ask their questions and talk through what they are learning. Today, I had the pleasure of meeting a SLOCA freshwoman after school. She came in to chat about our doozy of a history essay prompt, which was asking her to explain, using arguments of cause and effect, how Columbus's discovery of the Americas eventually created a Europe that allowed for the rise of Napoleonic France. (This is NOT an easy or simple thing to explain, and must cover over 200 years of history.) This student brought in her practice essay, and we embarked on a discussion that took my breath away. She was able to highlight and analyze with eloquence so much that most adults probably don't even know: Colombian exchange, mercantile theory, triangular trade, the rise of the capitalist economy, absolutism, nationalism, the chaos of revolution, the shadow of the guillotine, and… by the way, isn't Napoleon just so INTERESTING? Isn't he just so CRAZY? As in, he defied the revolution, and yet EMBODIED IT? As in, he ruined his people in Russia and they STILL LOVED HIM? Doesn't that make you SO MAD Ms. Shotwell?
You know what, Kid? It does make me mad. But YOU make me happy when you are mad at Napoleon because it means you care, you are invested, and what more could a history teacher want than for her students to care? What more could a history teach want, than for her students to be REALLY, REALLY MAD at Napoleon, if only for a day?
After that very long, in-depth conversation, I walked away impressed with this student. But as I drove away into the evening (yes, the conversation really was that long!) I had this weird moment of realization in which I finally understood how much one teenager is capable of learning, absorbing, articulating in a semester, and how I have the privilege of being a part of that, of taking them seriously, of talking, really talking, to teens as scholars – as real, thinking humans with beautiful, complex thoughts – and I said to myself, this is it.
This is why I teach at SLOCA.
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PS: In case you are wondering, Napoleon stinks, truly stinks, for what he did. But like everyone else, I, too, still love him. Vive l'empereur!
Thanks for sharing this, Sarah! We appreciate this peek at a high school interaction – exciting things are happening in the the lives and minds of these students! And we love our teachers, who invest this level of time and care, and “really talk to teens as scholars.” Classical Academy High School is truly an extraordinary place!
