New York Law School professor Robert Blecker, J.D. will teach a 10-session course at Stuyvesant from February to March. The after-school class will include elements of Western philosophy, law, and history. Students will learn topics from the ideologies of ancient Greeks like Thales, the so-called founder of geometry, to the Stamp Act Crisis that preceded the American Revolution to the rights of executive officials in the Iran-Contra Affair.

The partnership between the Stuyvesant Social Studies Department and the New York Law School started through former Stuyvesant teacher Fred Mirer and his connection with Blecker approximately ten years ago. In the past, Blecker has allowed a small number of academically outstanding students to attend this course at the New York Law School, and he has previously taught the course at Stuyvesant, but is unable to offer it each year due to his teaching schedule. He has also visited several Stuyvesant classes for guest lectures; for the past two years, he has spoken to AP American Studies classes about the connection between the story of “The Odyssey” and American government.
“I was impressed by his knowledge,” junior Bernard Stanford said. “It’s a very interesting [Odysseus] analogy, and his point is very valid, because our Founders did rely on the Ancient Greeks for inspiration on democracy.”

Assistant Principal Social Studies Jennifer Suri will use an application process to select up to 20 upperclassmen for the class. Blecker requested a small class size in order to provide a more in-depth learning experience as “it’s not just a sit in [and] listen type of lecture, but more of a seminar,” Suri said. The class will take place on Tuesdays, from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Blecker’s goal for the class is “to allow each student to develop her or his own political and constitutional ideology, somewhere between the forty yard lines of extreme but arguable nationalism and extreme but arguable state rights,” Blecker wrote in an e-mail interview.

Additional discussion topics include the philosophical foundation of Western law and various Supreme Court decisions. Blecker is best known for his “specific positions on the death penalty and how he argues that. He has been involved, commenting on some high-profile death penalty cases, so there’s going to be a certain amount of discussion on capital punishment,” Suri said.

Suri is grateful for Stuyvesant’s involvement in the Stuyvesant community. In the past, she said, he has “written college recommendations for students, [...] helped prior students secure some internships post-college for students in law related affairs, and has really opened a lot of doors for us [at Stuyvesant]. It’s really been a great experience for the students.”

She is looking forward to welcoming Blecker back again for the class. “It’s been a few years since we’ve actually offered [the class] that he’s been able to come here to teach to kids who are very interested in law,” Suri said.

Blecker is also eager to teach the course at Stuyvesant. “I’m interested in exposing students to the basic political and constitutional assumptions that underlie Western culture,” he wrote in an e-mail interview. “All in all, I’ll expose students to and attempt to integrate the most interesting ideas in constitutional, historical, philosophical culture that I’ve encountered and taught these past 35 years.”