1. Define the boundaries of your culture. Be
able to justify the boundaries you choose. How do you identify a
member, by language, by place of residence, by appearance, by food, by
other means?
2. In what bioregion did your culture
originate and does it reside there now?
3. What are the primary sources from which you
can learn your culture?
4. What languages do you need to know to study
the significant teachings of your culture?
5. What people do you need to know to study
the significant teachings of your culture?
6. Define a myth and give one example from
each of three cultures, including your own as one culture.
7. Define the difference between a classic
book and a sacred book.
8. Discuss the difference between pride in
your own culture and arrogance.
9. Discuss the ways in which different
cultural traditions deal with pride and arrogance.
10. How has the language used by members of
your culture been affected by laws, religion, education, and social
identity.
11. How does your culture deal with outsiders,
misfits, handicapped, or exiles?
12. Does your culture use isolation or
alienation as a punishment, and if so, for what offenses?
13. Name three works in your literature that
deal with self-concept and alienation.
14. Is it possible to be an independent
thinker without being alienated? Give several examples from
world literature to support your positions.
15. Is alienation a good or a bad
condition? Give at least three works from world literature to
support your position.
16. How is pride displayed in your
culture? Show how that is different from at least one other
culture.
17. How does education contribute to
alienation.
18. What is the effect of alienation on the
children of alienated individuals?
19. What reasons do you have to be proud of
your culture? Of your country? Of your family? What
other groups are you proud to be a part of?
20. To whom or to what do you owe your main
duty? and why?
21. Give three places you might encounter
conflict in your loyalties and discuss how you might resolve those
conflicts.
22. How has the history of your country been
influenced by the ideas of philosophers? Give two or three
examples.
23. Which aspects of the Constitution of the
United States of America would Confucius or Mencius have agreed with
and which aspects would they have disagreed with?
24. Draw up a hierarchy of your loyalties from
among such categories as friends, parents, siblings, extended family
members, local governments, state government, federal government, your
culture, your clan, the people of the earth, an ideal, or any other
categories you wish. Justify your hierarchy by reference to your
culture and show how your hierarchy differs from at least one other
culture.
25. Which is the most durable medium for the
preservation of culture, the spoken word, print, or electronic storage
(tape, chip, etc.)? Justify your choice.
To do well on this test a student will have to
integrate knowledge from many areas of the humanities. He or she
will also have had to study significant selections from the classics
of his or her own culture as well as other cultures. The student
will also need to study anthropology to be able to think comparatively
about culture. More than that, however, the student will have to
have thought deeply about his or her own place in the cultural world.
Again, this is just an example of what we mean by
the thematic, humanities approach of the Axe Handle Academy. By
organizing around significant themes such as Alienation and
Self-Concept, Pride and Arrogance, or Conflict of Loyalty
students will learn significant portions of world literature, history,
and philosophy without losing any of the essential knolwledge we are
now requiring.
