STUDENTS TALENTED IN HUMANITIES (“G&T” programs)
Parents will work with the teacher to design competitive curricula. Note that a child’s talents for Humanities are usually these:
- early reading and writing, linguistic talent and interest in ethical tales
- fascination with cinema/theatre and manifesting innate rhetorical skills
- interest in arts e.g. listening to and creating poems and/or stories; story-telling, desire and ability to practice drawing/painting; music, dance
- history and geography
- emotional intelligence, empathy for people, literary characters, animals, nature
- creativity (artistic crafts)
- desire for knowledge and above-average focus on most educational subjects
Consider a bilingual curriculum
English-Italian. Curricula can be built around the authentic (Italian) MONTESSORI method and may cover Italian language and art training.
English – French Curricula that are geared towards bilingual French-English instruction rely on French educational guidelines, language, and art.
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“If education is always to be conceived along the same antiquated lines of a mere transmission of knowledge, there is little to be hoped from it in the bettering of man’s future. For what is the use of transmitting knowledge if the individual’s total development lags behind? (…) We especially need imagination in science. It is not all mathematics, nor all logic, but it is somewhat beauty and poetry.” (Maria Montessori, La Mente del Bambino, Mente Assorbente published by Garzanti, 1952)
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Suggested subjects:
Classical novels and tales: UK, U.S., France, Italy, etc
World legends
Character Building: Fables
Grammatical Analysis
Vocabulary and Rhetorics
Esthetics
Symbolism Study
Conversational Skills
International Studies (history)
Reading Comprehension
Literary Criticism
Human Geography
French and/or Italian
Art Theory and Art Practice: Drawing, Painting, Poetry, Fiction
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“By a pleasant custom dating back to the last century, a noted brain-surgeon who plays the violin, can sail a boat, and keeps up with new books is known among his friends as a Renaissance man. He deserves credit, of course, for battling against the force of SPECIALISM, but his qualifications for the honorific title fall a little short when he is compared with, say, Alberti, who not only painted and built and theorized, but was also a poet and playwright, a musician (organist) and a writer on theology and philosophy. Actually, the true Renaissance man should not be defined by genius, which is rare, or even by the numerous performing talents of an Alberti. It is best defined by a variety of interests and their cultivation as a proficient amateur. A Renaissance man or woman has the skill to fashion verses and accompany or sing them, a taste for good letters and good paintings, for Roman antiquities and the new architecture; and some familiarity with the rival philosophies. To all this must be added the latest refinements in manners as practiced in the princely courts, where men and women were expected to talk agreeably, to dance gracefully, to act in masques, and improvise other at home theatricals. Social life for them was a species of serious work for mutual pleasure, one motive being to fend off boredom. The men must be soldiers, both sexes could be adept at politics. In short, it is the exact opposite of our intellectual and social specialisms, the reverse of our prefabricated hobbies and entertainments.” (Jacques Barzun, “From Dawn to Decadence: 500 Years of Western Cultural Life”, 2000)