Author: Mark Thomas

  • Nullification, Nigerian Princes and Knowledge

    Nullification, Nigerian Princes and other scams Nope, the government simply can’t always do a job better than the diligent citizen when it comes to protection from harm or fraud. Take for example the ubiquitous e-mail scams sent by seemingly generous, Nigerian Princes who need your help claiming millions. The government can’t be expected to stop…

  • Teaching American History badly-part 2

    Teaching American History badly well In the previous post I listed five essential skills students must have to access history in a meaningful way. Personal concept of historical time Bias recognition Strong search strategies Organizational skills (for evidence/data) Ability to generate essential questions In this post I’ll focus on the first of these. For the…

  • Teaching American History badly

    Teaching American History badly – Part 1 Just to clarify, this post isn’t intended as a how to. The scope of this entry is to reflect upon what conditions tend to encourage a person to find relevance between his or her life and past events and personalities. With few exceptions, the traditional means of teaching…

  • Veteran’s Day

    Veteran’s Day Today our school will hold its annual Veteran’s Day program. Across the country similar ceremonies will also honor those who served in the armed forces. These displays of gratitude will be accompanied by more personal expression, one in particular. “Thank you for your service.” I don’t know of any veteran who doesn’t appreciate…