Stephen Jackson

Olaf themed picture

In keeping with my daughter’s Frozen themed Halloween, today I’m Academic Olaf. I like warm hugs, elbow patches, long discussions of theory, and, especially, SUMMER!

Picture of the sun peaking through the clouds

Lovely to see the sun again after several rainy days.

Radio City Music Hall sign regarding show from Critical Role.

What a treat to see Critical Role at Radio City Music Hall last night!

We are thrilled to announce that our NEW Large Language Model will be released on 11.18.25.

Texas Tech Moves to Limit Academic Discussion to 2 Genders

It's a small step from here to prohibiting professors from teaching about climate change, slavery, colonialism, racial discrimination, evolution, and the efficacy of vaccines.

I spent too much time worrying about state-run media, and not nearly enough worrying about a media-run state.

Selfie celebrating a decade since my last cancer treatment.

A certificate of completing my last radiation treatment a decade ago.

Celebrating ten cancer free years today!

It is an especially bleak time for Bears fans.

Selfie while cheering on the Bears at Arrowhead Stadium

🐻 ⬇️

KU’s Lawrence campus at sunset.

Greeted by a beautiful Lawrence sunset after teaching this evening.

‘Harmonise with the rest of the Empire’: Empire’s influence on religious instruction in Australian and New Zealand primary schools, 1880–1962 This article argues that imperial identities embracing Britishness within Anglo-settler colonies significantly influenced provisions for religious education in Australia and New Zealand primary sch...

My article with the Journal of Beliefs and Values is officially out in print! I explore how the British Empire served as a medium for the diffusion of religious instruction in the colonies of settlement from the late 19th century to the 1960s. Free link here: www.tandfonline.com/eprint/IMHR8...

My generational divide moment for the first week of class: Attended an orientation in which the icebreaker was “what song is your most liked on Spotify,” but I don’t fully understand why you need to like songs on Spotify nor could I recognize 80% of the songs/bands mentioned.

Every day I become more certain that we are living in the timeline in which Biff received Gray’s Sports Almanac.

“Laziness The Best Policy” Part I.

“Laziness The Best Policy” Part II

“Laziness The Best Policy” Part III

Hilarious student essay from 1850: “Laziness The Best Policy,” from the Springdale Memento, Springdale Boarding School in Virginia.

Worcester, MA

Giant sea bug on top of restaurant

Never change, New England

Exterior of American Antiquarian Society

American Antiquarian Society reading room.

Thrilled to be starting my time as a fellow with @amantiquarian.bsky.social! Lovely to work at such a beautiful world class library.

As the secretary of @aeraedresearch.bsky.social Division F, I have created a Blusky account. If you are interested in history of education or related topics, then give us a follow @aeradivf-history.bsky.social #histed #edhist

Source: Historical Sources in Schools: Report to the New England History Teachers Association, 1902, page 14.

"He [the historical student] must be taught over and over again that his salvation lies in thinking straight and clearly, that there must be no distortion of the facts, no suppression of evidence in the interest of preconceptions or prejudices."

"History should be taught and studied for its own sake, regardless of consequences, solely with a view to know the truth."

“‘The West’ is neither more, nor less real or unreal, neither more nor less ‘imagined’, than other collective identities (European, Mediterranean, Nordic, Pan-Islamic, Pan-Christian, etc.) that are meant to include people who are in many respects very different from each other.” (345)

Among many others that I'll be chewing on, these two quotations stand out: “if this book has shown anything beyond doubt, it is surely that attempts to give ‘the West’ an essence, an inherent and unchanging definition, nature or character, are misplaced.” (343)

Received my pre-order yesterday, and am so far finding it fascinating. A compelling account of the origin and many uses (abuses?) of the idea of ‘the West’ as a cultural/political category.

Sunset on the Flint Hills

Selfie during intermission at Symphony on the Flint Hills.

View of the Flint Hills.

Peak Kansas at the final Symphony on the Flint Hills today. Even had a rendition of a Home on the Range and a cattle drive.

“But it takes more time? good friend, it does; and it takes more time to solve a problem in arithmetic, than to read its answer; and more time to read a Shakespeare, than to read that Shakespeare was the greatest dramatist of all the ages; and more time, finally, to read the American constition and the American newspaper, and make up your own mind how to vote your own vote,  than it does to be put into a ‘block of five.’- *But what is time for?*” Mary Sheldon Barnes, The Academy: A Journal of Secondary Education, Volume IV, 1889-90, 291.

19th century educator Mary Sheldon Barnes here provides a powerful justification for why we should wrestle with original documents, and also a fair answer to AI enthusiasts looking to outsource critical thinking. #histed. #skystorians

Lyon School, which became an administrative building for Annheuser-Busch. St. Louis, Mo.

Sign for Pestalozzi Street, St. Louis, MO

Delighted to learn a little #histed while on a brewery tour yesterday.The Annheuser-Busch brewery is located on Pestalozzi Street, and is right on the site of the Lyon School in St. Louis, constructed in 1868. I’m sure Johann Pestalozzi would be proud.

Agreed, and I’m a lifelong Cubs fan, so it kills me to admit it.

Busch Stadium for a Cardinals Royals baseball game.

Another great day for baseball! Cheering on the Royals at Busch Stadium.

Sign that says “Fountains up KC.”

Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City on a gorgeous day for baseball.

Beautiful day for a ballgame at the K!