US Presidents Almost Always Make Foreign Policy Mistakes

Every US president in my memory made arguably serious errors in foreign policy and was also blamed for things beyond his control. Here's a list off the top of my head, not meant to be all-inclusive. I just want to identify controversies that could be debated. Might FDR be blamed for the Dresden bombing and for …

Venturing Out of Echo Chambers, Seeking Viewpoint Diversity

I mourn the decline of the newspaper op-ed page and the era when good citizens felt compelled to routinely read opinions from writers who had very different perspectives than their own. Persuasion is, I fear, a lost art. People don’t know how to disagree as civilly as they used to. Assigned to make a persuasive …

History Class Is Where Students Can Learn the Fun of Fascinating Arguments

Good students get excited about history class "when they realize much of historical knowledge is contested, enmeshed in a productive argument that never ends, and therefore fascinates," wrote David Ellis and Mark Vincent of Augustana College, in the Society for History Education's journal, The History Teacher, February 2020. They ask "How do Structured Controversy Debates …

Cancel the Honoring of George Washington?

A George Washington University student argues in The Washington Post that the university should be renamed for Frederick Douglass because the nation's founding father was an "enslaver of men." A few blocks away is the university's Mount Vernon campus, which is "named for George Washington’s former slave plantation." Caleb Francois, the student, say students are …

American Imperialist Beliefs in the Late 1800s: Pro and Con

Students should read the following documents and list on a chart the key arguments of the imperialists/expansionists, to prepare for debates. Two "Pro" Arguments (Pro-Imperialist) "The US Looking Outwards" by Alfred Thayer Mahan, 1890, The Atlantic. He was a United States naval officer and historian, whom John Keegan called "the most important American strategist of …

Role of Judicial Philosophy in Court Decisions is Hotly Debated

"Although judges do not run on a platform, as do elected officials, they nevertheless hold political beliefs that influence their decisions. People strongly debate the role of the courts in politics and the role that personal beliefs and political philosophy should play...The main types of contrasting judicial philosophies include judicial activism versus judicial restraint, loose …

When Was America Founded?

This is a thought question for students, with not just one right answer. Indeed, there could be about 20 different answers to the question. Students should be able to articulate at least five dates for America's founding. Among them: Thirty thousand years ago, when modern humans migrated from Sibera through the Bering Strait Land Bridge. …

Thematic or Chronological Teaching of History? A Debate

I've witnessed students extraordinarily bored by the chronological teaching of history -- "just one darn thing after another," they groan. As a teacher, I've argued that chronological teaching of history is necessary to understand CAUSALITY: one thing causes, or partly causes, another thing. But I have to admit that when I was in school, we …

Ken Burns’ Video Essay on Violent History of US Sparks Meditation on the Meaning of Patriotism

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hE_Tl9ovDIo In The Washington Post, historian and filmmaker Ken Burns says the violent history of the United States can be difficult to reckon with, perverting the meaning of patriotism. For many, choosing to remember our failings is somehow considered anti-American. But Burns argues the treatment of Native Americans across the country was often brutal, bloody, …

Is the US Political System Rock-Solid Stable?

I have argued that the US political system could break down in January 2025 due to divisions that have been present in the US since its founding. And especially if one political party or the other refuses to accept the result of the presidential election in 2024, based on allegations of voter fraud or voter …