Why Merit Pay Is a Merit-less Idea
It sounds so logical: Run teaching as if a school were a business. Use merit pay to get better performance out of the nation’s teachers. Why should automatic salary increases be part of any profession? Why not dangle a $20,000 bonus out there within a school faculty? So, the very best teacher gets the extra dough. And….Read more
(VIDEO) Executive Dis-Orders Create Questions
Executive orders by a president aren’t exactly laws. But they can create sweeping changes in society. In theory, we have separation of powers and checks and balances. In reality, a tug of war between institutions of government is inevitable. The president isn’t supposed make laws. Congress does. President Obama, and others before him, made executive orders. President Donald….Read more
Tricky But Not Sticky: Campaign Finance Reform Keeps Failing
Right before Nixon’s re-election in 1972, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) sued the New York Times for refusing to print an ad. It was called “An Open Letter to President Richard M. Nixon in Opposition to His Stand on School Segregation.” Why wouldn’t the Times print it? Because the Federal Election Campaign Act required groups such as the ACLU to submit….Read more
Why Grade Inflation Affects All of Us
We recently posed the hypothetical question of a high school senior who earned a 78% at report card time in late October. “Kevin C” requested another chance to get his average to 85 or greater so he could qualify for an Early Action decision from his first-choice college. He wants spend the weekend writing a research paper to boost his grade. It’s….Read more
Tariffs, Once Essential Revenue, Now Job Creator?
A neon bridge light near Trenton, N.J., boasts, “Trenton Makes, the World Takes.” Ironically, Trenton’s industrial glory is long gone, and as N.J.’s capitol, Trenton’s biggest employer is the industry of government. American manufacturers have responded to foreign competition by automating and by offshoring plants to find cheaper labor. Protectionism and tariffs haven’t been on the table in decades. But American….Read more
The Yugely Teachable Moment Provided by Donald Trump
As 2017 begins, it looks as if the ship of state will tack in a totally different direction. An historic moment that’s also a potent opportunity for American history and other humanities teachers to capitalize on the teachable moments offered by the upcoming presidency of Donald Trump. Theoretical issues come alive It was always challenging to teach political abstractions. Some….Read more
VIDEO: Grading Hacks for Better Teaching
Grading papers doesn’t have to be a demoralizing task that takes over your teaching and home life. In another grading post, I explain how representative sampling in grading can help you take a kid’s temperature, academically. Here I offer more general grading hacks. Here are five tips that have helped me to improve….Read more
Grading Papers: Scaling Down the Mountain
The History Dr knows what it’s like to face a mountain of paperwork that never seems to go down. Yet grading papers doesn’t have to weigh you down. Here’s why. Sometimes Less Can be More Some of your assumptions about the right way to grade papers may not necessarily be accurate. I’ve created this video to explain some useful sampling strategies….Read more
Hamilton Redefined Libel Laws Trump Wishes to “Loosen”
“One of the things I’m going to do if I win is…to open up our libel laws so when they write purposely negative and horrible and false articles, we can sue them and win lots of money…. We’re going to open up those libel laws. So when The New York Times…writes a hit piece, we can sue them….Read more
Hamilton Redux: Now It’s Faithless Electors
What would Alexander Hamilton think were he alive today? I doubt he ever dreamed he’d be the subject of a musical whose ticket price could rival a car payment, and that his Federalist papers would fuel a national movement of electors to upend the results of an….Read more