D-E’s Upper School (US) History Department faculty last week facilitated field trips for 9th graders to The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Met Cloisters, and the New York Public Library. “The goal of our trip to the Met was to compare similar kinds of art—pottery, sculpture, geometric designs, and 2D depictions of people and/or animals—across at least two of the different cultures we’ve studied,” explained US History Teacher Ben Fleisher. “For most of our study of ancient cultures, we rely on technology to mediate it, but this trip gave us an opportunity to see objects directly from the cultures we study up close and compare them.”

“It’s really important to understand the role art and other objects have in understanding history, especially the culture of the times, regions, and beliefs we are studying,” added US History Teacher Jennifer Seligman, who chaperoned the Cloisters trip, with its focus on the Middle Ages.

Overall, said Mr. Fleisher, “I hope that the students see that the cultures of the world are both distinct from each other but have a commonality that is uniquely human.”