We live in the greatest country in the world! The United States is the greatest bastion of liberty the world has ever known. Basic human nature compels people to seek freedom and more people have immigrated to our nation than any other over its brief 233 year existence.
Our nation has provided more wealth for more people than any other in the history of humanity. We have freed more than any other; we have offered more opportunity than any other country that has ever existed, but we are not perfect. Over those 233 years of our republic’s existence, we have gone through many changes: some minor, some major. They have tested our resolve, but we have always persevered and grown as a nation.
Unfortunately, we are at a crossroads: what is more important? Liberty or safety? In the words of perhaps our greatest Founding Father, Benjamin Franklin, “Those who surrender freedom for security will not have, nor do they deserve, either one.”
For this course, we will be studying the major social, economic and political events that took place in the United States since the middle of the 19th Century; ideologies will be discussed and debated as well. Projects include research on issues and events that have impacted American (and world) society as well as debates on major issues in America over the past 150+ years. Also, being that this is Social Studies class, proper citizenship will be discussed and stressed as well.
Samuel Langhornne Clemens, a.k.a. Mark Twain, summed up my expectations perfectly: “don’t go around saying the world owes you a living – the world owes you nothing; it was here first.”
So live by the words of inventor Thomas Edison, who said so poignantly, “there is no substitute for hard work.”
On a more personal note, I have been teaching for 23 years, all of them here at Cypress Creek High; I’m originally from New York but now call The Sunshine State my home. I have also taught World History and World Cultures/Global Studies/World Cultural Geography and have been coaching baseball for thirteen years, having also coached softball, boys lacrosse (back when we had such a team), cross country and track. I’m a die hard baseball and hockey fan (NY Yankees and NY Rangers) and will never stop learning!