The U.S. and the World: American Foreign Relations

Description

Why does the United States keep going to war in places most Americans could not find on a map? A thoughtful sixteen-year-old asks that question. This course takes it seriously.

The U.S. and the World is an honors live online American foreign relations class for high school, and it begins where the country did: with George Washington’s advice on foreign policy in his Farewell Address, and the harder question of why Americans have largely ignored that advice for more than a century.

From there the class goes back to first principles. What is war, and why do nations fight? What kind of peace do we want, and how can we preserve it? If war comes, how does a nation give itself the best possible chance to win?

The reading range is unusually wide for a high school course. Thucydides on the Peloponnesian War and the Chinese sage Sun Tzu; medieval and early modern authorities including Thomas Aquinas and Machiavelli; contemporary scholars such as Angelo Codevilla and Edward Luttwak. Adam Pruzan provides all books and readings and teaches the class through historical cases and the great theorists of war and national strategy rather than a survey textbook.

By the end of the year your student can explain how a nation defines its interests, trace the reasoning behind a strategic decision and what it cost, and argue a position on a real conflict from the sources rather than from headlines.

Adam Pruzan, a St. John’s College graduate, former Navy officer and working investment manager, teaches politics, philosophy, economics and world history. The strategy he teaches is not theoretical to him.

Is this the right fit? Students read Sun Tzu’s The Art of War before the first class, so the year starts already in motion. This is an honors course for a student fascinated by strategy, by why countries fight, and by how a peace is kept once it is won. A student looking for a survey of American history will be happier elsewhere.

Class details
– Teacher: Adam Pruzan
– Day and time: Fridays, 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. CST
– Term: full year, 2027-28 school year
– Grades: 10-12
– Credit: 1 credit, honors level
– Class size: capped at 8 students
– Weekly work outside class: about 3 hours
– Required preparation: read Sun Tzu’s The Art of War before the course begins
– Included: the self-paced Geography of World Empires course, at no additional cost
– Materials: books and readings provided by the teacher
– Live, small-group class on Zoom

Also with Adam Pruzan: Philosophy, Politics & Economics and Beyond the Final Frontier: Science Fiction & Science.

Combine it with World Literature and Composition, World Religion, Physics, Psychology or Ancient History for a full year of real reading. Enroll and the social studies credit is recorded for you, accredited by Cognia.