Part of Wells International School’s mission as an educational institution comprises the continual reevaluation of our standard courses, making them more practical and relevant to students’ modern experiences. Additionally, we strive to introduce new opportunities for them to learn more about their surrounding world through the addition of germane elective courses at the high school level. One such program is the World Religions course, an elective offered to upper high school students, and the first of many classes that emphasize the pragmatic application of the knowledge gained during the period of study. Given the volatile nature of religious conflict in the modern world, young adults must become aware of the necessity for tolerance and understanding of other viewpoints. The above video provides a brief overview of the content addressed in this class; students themselves become instructors, as each researches a religion and creates an eighty-five minute presentation for the others in the class. [See the grading scale for this presentation.]
In addition to the World Religions course, several other high school electives emphasize the relevance of the subject to the students’ lives. Recognizing the lasting impact of the recent world economic crisis, the Personal Finance course provides students with practical knowledge with which to recognize the importance of fiscal responsibility. Environmental Science focuses on the manner in which human beings as a species have misused the world’s resources and, rather than endorse short-term “cleaning” solutions, seeks to find preventive measures that will raise environmental awareness and reduce resource exploitation. These, combined with other courses that will be detailed in future postings, ultimately provide the students at Wells On Nut with a conditioned consciousness and realism that are too often absent in educational settings.