THE WORLD COURSE
SIXTH GRADE: HOW VALUES AND IDENTITIES
SHAPE PEOPLE AND INSTITUTIONS

Theme
I I nderstanding cultural values and their impact in people’s lives and in

institutions and societies.

Description

A In the sixth grade, students move from looking at the fight for the rights of
individual people and peoples to looking at the way that values and iden—
tity Shape people and institutions, including governments. After establish—
ing norms for the classroom, the students first look at their identities and
reflect on their complexities. They will read books like 7776 Light in t/ae Forest
and 7776 Com/9 Bearer to enable them to think about values and identity
in another place and/or time. They will then learn about how individual
choices and values play a role in the need for government and civic or—
ganizations through an examination of commons. After that, they will be
introduced to civil society and to different types of civic participation, using
their own identity maps as a basis for the concepts. Next, the Students will
do an extended comparison of governments, focusing on the United States,
the United Kingdom, and China. They will read biographies of Thomas
Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton to understand how their particular values
helped shape American democracy. The final section deals with indigenous

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