The History curriculum that governs much of the sixth grade Language Arts work takes as its theme Rome and medieval Christian Europe, and Moslem North Africa. The study of the Roman epoch begins with the mythical account of the travels of Aeneas and his founding of the city; it examines the evolution of Roman government, laws and rights through its successive rulers, the wars it waged, and its great achievements in technology and the arts; and it charts the events leading to its decline and the concomitant rise of Christianity and Islam.
The Roman epoch epitomizes, in a historical sense, what the children are experiencing in their bodies. Of all the ancient peoples the Romans most strongly dominated the physical world. Their cities, roads, aqueducts, the Roman army, and their conquest of the Western world – all these accomplishments match a feeling of ego-confidence and a consciousness of personal power that the sixth grader has: I can do anything! Yet equally important for the children is the example of how the excesses of the Roman period led to the eradication of other cultures, the fall of the Roman Empire, and the Middle Ages. Study of the Middle ages brings students in touch with the ride of Feudalism. A sense of order and justice is embraced, mirroring the progression of the children developmentally. Students art introduced to the concepts of chivalry, Arthurian Legend, and the search for the Holy Grail.
The rather matter of fact, material approach to life that was the hallmark of Rome is a perfect mirror of the developing sixth grader who is interested in mastery of the physical and is less willing to engage in the fanciful or emotional aspects of life – at least externally. The child’s inner life may become both deeper and less accessible; the light, sanguine quality of the younger child has now receded as new forces begin to appear. This turning inward, the foreshadowing of adolescence, is mirrored historically by the European Dark Ages, when knowledge and civilization seemed to disappear. It is reassuring for teacher and parent alike to recall that knowledge and culture had not vanished but were hidden for protection and deepening, waiting to reappear in a flurry of learning and progress in the High Middle Ages.