Death of a Library

I visited my campus library today to chat with our librarian about a video set I use in my classes. While visiting, she and I discussed our shock at what the Cushing School is doing. Note, the Cushing school is very old, very elite, and to an extent — very traditional school. They have a [...]

The Talk

The Warrior Round Table, a blog maintained by the headmaster at Little Rock Christian School and one that I have been reading for a while, recently drafted four reasons why they will not be viewing President Obama’s stream. You can read that post here. I am curious as to what other schools (public and private) [...]

Christian Schools

I am spending my day (literally) editing a survey form that I will email to a number of independent schools across the country. This will be the second such survey I will send. I am targeting protestant Christian schools with this one, including upper-tier Christian schools. The perception that many in the general public have [...]

Faculty Diversity and Schools

Above: Sam Mendazibal of Bolivia and the chairman of the Foreign Language Department chats with me after playing  basketball with students during a recent campus retreat.
I received an email today from a group looking to organize a sub meeting on independent school campus diversity; one of the topics to be addressed is that of comfort [...]

I Used To Be Hard

In the world of independent schools, most places have an evaluation process in place in which students mark evaluation forms of their instructors. For the most part, I have enjoyed the feedback from students on my teaching and the general nature of my courses. Before students evaluate me, I always ask them to write a [...]

School Tuition

Tuition at several elite private schools in Los Angeles County will reach $25,000 or close to it next school year. We have a very competitive independent school market in Houston; it is made up of a host of excellent schools. Thus tuition here in Houston tends to be high on most reputable campuses. Though our [...]

Teaching at a Private School

It is safe to say that not all schools are created equal. There are clear benefits to being a faculty member in an independent school environment. However, one must compete with a number of highly qualified candidates to get through the gate.  After nine years of teaching, I only know and fully understand private school [...]

Mark Reed of St. John’s

I wanted to say congratulation to Mark Reed, the Assistant Headmaster at the St. John’s School. Mark will become the next Headmaster at the Charlotte Country Day School in North Carolina. I met Mark a number of years ago while working on a project involving independent schools. He has been nothing but a positive influence [...]

Teachers of Color

Above: Danielle Milton, Jillian Thompson, and Ariel  Johnson during homecoming week in November.
The love and want and need to see different types of people is not a liberal or conservative thing; it is a matter of beauty and hope that brings all of us together; I smile knowing that I love all types of [...]

The History Excursion by Suzan Phenicie

Above: HCHS history department dinning in downtown Boston at the home of the Iron Chef after a campus visit to Phillip’s Academy.
Suzan Phenicie teaches in the department of history and social science at Houston Christian; she currently teaches Advanced Placement United States Government and Politics as well as Economics. Phenicie adds a bit of the [...]

Departmental travels — Kingswood-Oxford School (KO) & Phillips Academy (PA)

Above: Carson and HCHS members with KO’s history chair Anne Serow in the faculty lounge

Above: The history department building (house) at KO

Above: HCHS members joined by Emma Frey and Peter Drench outside the academic building that houses the history department
After our initial visits to the Calhoun and Brooklyn-Friends School, my fellow colleagues and I spent [...]

Departmental Travels – The Calhoun School

(Sorry that the comments here got deleted. I had little choice)

Above: Carson with Calhoun’s history chair Michal Hershkovitz
The Calhoun School is an interesting model demonstrating an exercise in social analysis vis-à-vis Dewey ism, and a sense of intellectualism; it is a progressive academic culture. This past Wednesday Christine Metoyer (department head), Casey Bourland, and I [...]

Day I of Departmental Travel

Above: Carson, Sivils, Malouf, Malouf, Metoyer, Phenicie, and Bourland upon our arrival to New York.
We left Houston for New York City yesterday afternoon. We will spend the week visiting a number of history departments at various New York and New England day and boarding schools; I will post a few thoughts regarding our trip here [...]

Poor Practices in Institutional Hiring

I have long noted that institutions that practice academic incest and inbreeding do their students the greatest disservice. Not only does it allow for a sense of anti-intellectualism and closed mindedness, but it also stunts an institution’s growth. Schools that continue to hire only those that attended its institution or have some type of close [...]

Tenure, Race, Academic Freedom, and Religion

Addressing matters of faculty, academic voice, tenure, and promotion has long been an interest of this blog; I do believe that good schools — be it a university, boarding, or day school can be measured in status by the intellectual freedom and voice permitted on its campus. Honestly, it is what separates elite schools from [...]

School Leadership

The unfortunate reality of modern day schools can be found in their leadership approach. A number of schools have placed great emphasis on campus leadership. This leadership can be found among both faculty and students. Two local Houston private schools that have made leadership a focus are that of Houston Christian and the Second Baptist [...]

Recent Teaching Visit and Atlantic History

 
 

Cover Illustration: By the eighteenth century, the Atlantic Ocean was crisscrossed by trade routes between Europe and the Americas. Ships traveled these sea lanes carrying everything from cargo to slaves to new forms of political thought. The connections between Britain and North America have been well studied, but less attention has been paid to the [...]

A Christian Democrat by Dillon Sorensen

Dillon Sorensen is a 10th grader and frequent contributer to The Proletarian; feel free to leave a comment for him regarding the post. Here is a previous post by Mr. Sorensen.
I attend a private Christian high school in Houston – creatively named Houston Christian High School. At HCHS, most of the students are white, wealthy, [...]

Teaching Great Students #3: Brothers and Sisters

Above: Danielle Milton, Jillian Thompson, Ariel C’nae Johnson, and Carson kicking it during homecoming week.
Race and independent schools have been the focus of much of the work I have done and would like to continue over the next five years; it is a topic of passion as it not only relates to the development of [...]

Censorship, Academic Freedom and Private Schools

Do you recall this story here at the Horace Mann School? If not, visit this post I wrote a while back. A friend and great colleague who teaches at an elite independent school in North Carolina sent this article to me. It relates to the Horace Mann issue. Read more about the comment below here. Because I [...]