I wish it were William Farish’s fault. Grading that is. Google “history of grading” and you’ll find this Cambridge University tutor blamed for having invented grades ca. 1792 as a way to evaluate more students more quickly and thereby collect more fees. But according to Mary Lovett Smallwood’s 1935 monograph, Examinations and Grading Systems in … More Grading
3/5/12 – Nice to see some national attention for Alaska Christian College, a ministry of the Evangelical Covenant Church in that state. It’s the first of five unique schools featured in this month’s issue of Christianity Today, where writer Jocelyn Green observes that “ACC provides its primarily Alaskan student body something they weren’t getting elsewhere: … More Alaska Christian College
At the end of last week, I had students in my Human Rights in International History course read and respond to an article by Joel A. Nichols, “Evangelicals and Human Rights: The Continuing Ambivalence of Evangelical Christians’ Support for Human Rights” (published in the Journal of Law & Religion in 2009). Nichols teaches law at … More Are Evangelicals Ambivalent about Human Rights?
Here • Eight of my students took a shot at defining what historians do. • Do political churches risk decline? Are apolitical churches drawing new members? Is there such a thing as an “apolitical” church? (For another critique of political partisanship in churches, see this from Chuck Gutenson.) • Another year, another Oscar ceremony. Perhaps … More That Was The Week That Was
In part because I’ve got a bunch of grading to do (likely to inspire a bitter, self-loathing post early next week…) and in larger part because late last week I wrote my 300th post in just over eight months and suddenly felt massively tired, I’m not going to post anything today other than this: I’d … More Your Turn
One of my favorite things about spring semester is that I get to teach a section of our department’s capstone course, HIS499 Senior Seminar. It’s fun in part because it’s so unlike anything else I teach — as close to a graduate seminar as I’m going to (or would like to) get as a professor … More What Historians Do
As I’ve blogged about previously, making the switch from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar necessitated some odd choices throughout Europe, but none odder than what my ancestral people — generally noted for their commitment to reason and common sense — tried to pull off early in the 18th century. I’ll let a physicist explain: … More February 30, 1712
2/28/12 – Check out the new video preview for HIS230L World War I, reconfigured as a travel course that Sam Mulberry and I will lead for the first time in January 2013.
Earlier this month Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) presented an evening program focused entirely on classical music written by French and English composers during and right after World War I. Here’s the playlist if you’d like to order any of the pieces (for February 7th; the WWI music ran from 8-9pm). For the occasion Classical MPR … More WWI in Classical Music
I’m still a bit punchy after enduring the entire Oscar ceremony, but as best I can tell, two of my non-predictive Oscar predictions actually came true: Bret McKenzie picked up Best Song for “Man or Muppet” (The Muppet Movie), and Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, and Jim “Hey, it’s the dean on Community” Rash won Best … More Oscar Shout-Outs
The Pietist Schoolman 