If you are a member of the high school class of 2020 you can tell your kids and grandkids that Barack Obama was your commencement speaker. Here is the Chicago Tribune: Former President Barack Obama will deliver a televised prime-time...
high school
Out of the Zoo: Young Life
Annie Thorn is a sophomore history major from Kalamazoo, Michigan and our intern here at The Way of Improvement Leads Home. As part of her internship she is writing a weekly column titled “Out of the Zoo.” It focuses on life as...
High School Yearbooks are Historical Documents
We learned this during Brett Kavanaugh Supreme Court hearings. John Thelin, a historian at the University of Kentucky, reminds us that “yearbooks are documents that can go beyond casual nostalgia.” Here is a taste of his piece at Inside Higher Ed:...
Episode 31: Searching for Christian America in a Boston High School
The practice of historical thinking requires training. In this episode, host John Fea and producer Drew Dyrli Hermeling discuss this crucial habit of the mind, especially within a political climate where historical claims run rampant regardless of whether there is...
Episode 31 of The Way of Improvement Leads Home Podcast is Almost Here!
I am really excited about Episode 31! We talked with Boston Trinity Academy (BTA) history teacher Mike Milway and three of his senior students about studying history at the secondary-school level. Some of you may recall my recent visit to...
Why the Best History Teachers in Your Department Should Be Teaching Freshmen
The number of high school students who want to major in the humanities is on the decline. The number of college freshmen interested in majoring in the humanities is on the rise. Yes, you read those sentences correctly. Here is...
The Goalkeeper: A Man For All Seasons
I have never played competitive soccer. I am not a big fan of soccer despite the fact that the college where I teach has the best NCAA Division III soccer program (men’s and women’s) in the country and has been...
A High School Teacher “Warns” College Professors
Kenneth Bernstein is a retired high school government teacher. He has spent most of his career teaching AP courses at Eleanor Roosevelt High School in Greenbelt, MD. He was the 2010 Washington Post Agnes Meyer Outstanding Teacher. In a revealing...