Tag Archives: History

An Englishman in the Gesamtschule

A personal and historical reflection on German education from Humboldt to the 1970s: the rigor of continual assessment, the dignity of the old Abitur, the rise of the Gesamtschule, and the slow erosion of standards in the late twentieth century. Seen through the eyes of an English teacher working in North Rhine-Westphalia, this article contrasts German seriousness with British drift and explores how a once-formidable system began to follow the comprehensive path already taken in the UK and the USA.

Waking from the Dream: What Religion Taught Us — and What We Can No Longer Ignore

For two thousand years, Western civilisation has lived within a sacred story — one that promised meaning, redemption, and divine justice. Yet as history and reason awaken us from this dream, we begin to see how religion, though born from human longing, became a tool of control as much as a source of hope. To wake is not to despise faith, but to see it clearly — and to begin the moral work of conscious responsibility.

The Pyramids: Between Orthodoxy and Imagination

The Great Pyramid still defies explanation. Orthodox accounts of ramps, chisels, and manpower are possible, but hardly convincing. Transporting granite from Aswan, aligning to near-perfect north, and placing millions of blocks with uncanny precision raise questions that demand imagination as well as evidence. The pyramids remain monuments of wonder — challenging us to balance fact and mystery.