LDHSS School Spotlight
The Canadian and World Studies Department
Abby Denne
Embedded Files
With roughly 2,300 kids at Longfields and dozens of departments, the sheer volume of courses offered can seem overwhelming to freshman and senior students alike. After all, the descriptions offered on Career Cruising are brief and minimal, so picking which courses to pursue can be a confusing process. To make things easier on those who are struggling to find their way through a vast sea of academic options, I thought it would be a good idea to shine the spotlight on different departments in the school and the experiences they can offer. From English to Math, these departments have plenty to offer, much of which goes unnoticed. So, to start, I chose to explore the Canadian and World Studies department. This department at Longfields is one of the largest in the city, and encompass various social science courses such as Politics, Philosophy, Ancient Civics, History, and World Religion. For this month’s issue, I sat down with department head Aaron Leach to talk in detail about the courses within the Canadian and World Studies department and the general importance of social sciences.
Talk a bit about how you came to be the department head, how long you’ve held the position, what the department is like, etc.
Mr. Leach: It was 2009. I was hired when the school opened, and have been here ever since. There were 13 of us hired originally. At the time of the opening, I was the head of the French department too. Then the departments split over time as the population grew. I was also previously the department head at Colonel By.
After having worked with the same bunch of teachers for so long (over 10 years!) there must be a certain level of comradery within the LDH staff. Are there any traditions you guys have or activities that keep the department tight-knit?
Mr. Leach: Yeah, it's harder with COVID but we used to do Friday night pub nights. With everyone having kids of their own it got harder to have free time so we’ll mostly be hanging out/having socials at the school for like an hour. Different people form different friendships too. The social sciences is the biggest department so there’s a lot of people-- only 5 full-time teachers. Part-time is harder to integrate into co-workers.
Is there another course in the department that you’d want to teach if given the chance?
Mr. Leach: All of them! The crown jewel of the department is Ancient Civ because you get to choose the “cool history to teach” like all the battles, the people, the fun stuff. World Politics and World Religion too, I’m lucky to teach those. (Heads meeting today?)
Why do you think kids coming into high school should be interested in the Canadian and World Studies department? What do you find rewarding about the subject matter?
Mr. Leach: Of course I’m biased, but it’s the one area where the content is important, sure, but the critical thinking skills are everything. It’s teaching kids how to think. More and more ideology is creeping into education so it teaches kids how to think for themselves and question authority. Prove what they have and be open to debate and discussion. The skills are more important in these courses than the actual facts or knowledge. To know that having the confidence to ask questions is important. People have been misled because the education system doesn’t want them to question things.
You’ve worked at other schools, such as Colonel By, before coming to Longfields. What drew you to LDHSS originally and how do you feel the department here differs from those of your previous schools? What sticks out to you?
Mr. Leach: A number of factors that drew me here, really. Change is good, if people stay in one spot for too long they get too comfortable, so it’s good to challenge yourself. We encourage kids to get out there and explore life and so staying in one school your whole career would be hypocritical. It’s to challenge yourself professionally. I will not be here forever, and I’ve probably been here too long. Change has to happen. [Now talking about the department at Longfields] It is big. It’s much bigger here than other schools. Longfields is a big city, so you have way more options, way more courses able to be offered, so that’s a beautiful part. It's possible to get lost in the big city instead of smaller town schools though too. It's more about that contrast and which you prefer. Not many schools that offer all the 4U courses at the same time (A.Y. Jackson only offers one 4U social science course per year, and puts them through a rotation.)
What do you think this department does to inspire interest and engagement in the content matter being taught in these courses?
Mr. Leach: Traditionally, relationship-building is huge. The teachers I work with do an exceptional job getting to know the students as individuals and so once you get to know them, they want to engage in the content and the teachers know what each kid needs to learn the best they can. The department really does its best to engage with peer groups, community. And if I do say something controversial, if you know the person, it’s easier to have difficult conversations which goes back to the critical thinking peace. You don’t take it as some attack against you but rather as a discussion being sparked.
Do you find that the attitudes kids hold towards courses in this department have changed over the years or have they stayed generally the same?
Mr. Leach: From the conservative old grumpy man, yes, “kids these days” are different. But not really. We have kids like you [me] who will always be drawn to the social sciences, we have nerds. There will always be big crowds of math kids, science kids, etc. It’s parent-driven a lot of the time. I’ve had parents get upset with me because their kid wants to go into Social Sciences and they don’t want that for their kid. But no, interest has stayed generally the same.
There have been programs related to the department, such as the ManUP movement you helped students launch in 2015 and Think Tank with Mr. Soto. With COVID, obviously, starting up something like that one would be hard, but is there any program you’d think about doing related to the department? Any fun projects?
Mr. Leach: Oh god yes, there’s constantly been discussion on things like debate clubs, think tanks, all that stuff. [To Mr. Soto] What was that law one that Douggie wanted? Oh yeah, mock trials. And then traveling, Model UN, etc. It just makes the department and the courses so tangible.
What do you hope your legacy is within this department? What kind of impact are you and this group of teachers hoping to have on the students?
Mr. Leach: A statue? Is that acceptable? A statue at the front? [laughs]. Well here, make sure you get this down. So, I see leadership as either a dam that controls what flows and moves through, but the dam can also break and flood out. Leadership has control over what gets through and what doesn’t. But sometimes chaos isn’t a bad thing so you can let it all pour out and then it comes all back together. I hope that when I leave that there isn’t too much restriction placed on what they see their growth as or their learning is and that I leave this department as such.
Thank you so much for sitting down with me and answering some questions!
Mr. Leach: Of course, no problem!
So, as seen here, the social sciences offer much more than what meets the eye. The Canadian and World Studies Department, like many other departments, is a rare thing where its whole is more than the sum of its parts. The department offers courses that not only expand your horizons but also teaches you how to think critically and question what you learn. And, comparable to courses and departments like Math and Science, the process is actually more important than the end result.
With any luck, this provides some valuable insight and information about this department for those of you who are struggling to discern the academic path you wish to take in your last years of high school.
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