Service Learning

California Studies focuses on how water affects the state of California in economic, environmental, political, and daily ways. This field-based class meets during both B & C periods throughout the term; students spend two full weeks traveling around California in late May. Most of us know little about our water supply beyond what we see fall between the tap and the drain. Where does the water in San Francisco come from? This class will trace San Francisco’s water supply back to its source through indoor pipes, city streets, reservoirs, treatment facilities, tunnels, pipelines and along rivers to the snowpack. As we meet with activists and policy makers, we’ll use visual art, science, and equity frameworks to interpret the conflicting uses and needs around water in California. (1 credit; fulfills Service Learning 12 requirement) (12th Graders only) (Meets during two class periods)

Cross-listed in Service Learning and Multidisciplinary Courses

History of Queer Theater examines the global history of queer theater. Students will study plays, performances, theory, and scholarship in an exploration of how LGBTQ+ artists have used theater to challenge societal norms and push for political change. The course covers a range of performance styles, from drag shows to experimental theater, and how queer artists have shaped the history of theater over time. Students will also look at the intersections of queer theater with other social movements, such as feminism and anti-racism, and the ongoing struggles for representation and inclusion in the theater world. This course intends to identify key aspects of queer theater and performance, and deepen students’ understanding of physical, social, and emotional subtext in history.

Prerequisites: US History Sequence (Making/ReMaking America), or any Theater class, or instructor approval (1/2 credit) (11th and 12th graders only)

Cross-listed in History and Multidisciplinary Courses

Homelands: Discovering Diaspora through Oral History and Media is a multidisciplinary course that examines contemporary trends in the movement of people around the world with a focus on indigenous, immigrant, and refugee communities, and other intersectional borderland experiences. By engaging with Bay Area community organizations and individuals, students will achieve a more nuanced understanding of global migration trends, social issues impacting migration, the practical efforts of local organizations, and grass roots movement building. Students investigate displacement factors such as war, violence, poverty, and climate change through storytelling, oral histories, media arts, archives, and community-based participatory research. Students will interview and document individual stakeholders using audio, video and photography, creating a final collaborative and community based capstone project. (1/2 credit; fulfills Service Learning 12 requirement for 12th graders) (11th and 12th Graders only)

Cross-listed in Service Learning and Multidisciplinary Courses

Global Migration: Who, Where, Why examines current trends in the movement of people around the world. We will cover three themes — war and violence, poverty and climate change — and how each impacts the movement of people. The goal of this course is to humanize the immigration debate and offer a deeper context of push and pull factors in the movement of people. In case studies and in engaging with local community organizations in the Bay Area working on migration issues, students will achieve a deeper and more nuanced understanding of global migration trends, social issues impacting migration, and the practical efforts of local organizations that work on migration issues. In addition to academic study and research, students will partner with a local organization serving the immigrant community in the Bay Area. This course is multidisciplinary and also meets the requirement for the Senior Service Learning course. The course will start with introductory frameworks around global migration, including international standards for refugees and migrant workers. Students will then investigate three different case studies looking at historical contexts and root causes of migration, experiences of migration, and experiences upon arrival. Students will conduct a final case study research project on a topic examining migration from one of three perspectives: South to South, South to North, or internal migration. (1/2 credit; fulfills Service Learning 12 requirement for 12th graders) (11th and 12th Graders only)

Cross listed in Service Learning and Multidisciplinary Courses

Mathematics of Democracy explores how mathematics can illuminate the ways in which our society pursues the stated and unstated goals of our democracy. From a civics lens, we address the design, history and purposes of the US system of government. Then, blending civics and mathematics, we will investigate how we pursue those purposes and how mathematics helps illuminate the contradictions (stated vs. unstated goals, ideals vs. practice) in our democracy. In particular, students will analyze gerrymandering and the methods being attempted to measure it (and how they fail), as well as voting rights of minority populations. Finally, we will explore alternatives to our system, including an analysis of how other voting systems work in theory and practice. This class incorporates both reading and mathematical problem solving; students will be assessed by projects, reports and tests.

Prerequisite: Math 3 (1/2 credit) (11th and 12th Graders only)

UAS Rethinking Poverty looks critically at how different constituencies (artists, academics and activists, among others) have tried to recognize, define and understand poverty. From films like The Florida Project and Parasite, to ads for Save the Children, to reports on Living on $2 a day in America, representations of poverty abound – as do prescriptions for addressing it. Through such varied lenses as film, ethnography, literature and economics, we will investigate the virtues – and limitations – of these representations. We will explore the origins of the modern concept of poverty and the ideology of development that has arisen alongside, as well as the metrics used to talk about both. The academic realm offers a variety of differing answers to some key questions: Who defines scarcity? What counts as deprivation? Where does inequality come from? In addition, we will apply a critical lens to our own investigation: Can poverty be defined from the remove of a classroom? How much and how well can we come to understand? How accurate and helpful are universal models and global standards in defining poverty? What assumptions do we bring to this study of what we’re calling poverty? And, finally, what can we actually do?

Prerequisite: Completion of Remaking America or teacher approval (1/2 credit) (11th and 12th Graders only)