Sherman Dorn
banner
shermandorn.com
Sherman Dorn
@shermandorn.com
Personal account, historian of education policy
The credits listing looks remarkably .. 1984
January 28, 2026 at 1:12 AM
Bari Weiss has become the Bluesky Character of the Day.
"What we need here is more Substack"
The new CBS contributors:

Elliot Ackerman, Peter Attia, Masih Alinejad, Arthur Brooks, Caroline Chambers, Clare de Boer, Niall Ferguson, Roland Fryer Jr., Andrew Huberman, Coleman Hughes, Mark Hyman, Janna Levin, Casey Lewis, HR McMaster, Patrick McGee, Reihan Salam, Lauren Sherman, Derek Thompson
January 27, 2026 at 5:41 PM
We can and should change the CBP authority, to shrink the margin to something reasonable like 25 km.
Returning Border Patrol agents to the border is all well and good except the border zone is enormous and includes major cities like NY and LA and the entire state of MI.
January 27, 2026 at 2:42 PM
Trying to explain to some of my CA folks that joke maps dividing the country is essentially saying they want to abandon millions of Black and brown folks living in red states. And someone dared to reply, "let’s have a fund to get them the heck out" 🤦🏻‍♂️
January 27, 2026 at 3:20 AM
💯 on the metaphor from @icpetrie.bsky.social
January 26, 2026 at 10:57 PM
"[T]he impulse ... drawn from a long history of ed tech"

shermandorn.com?p=9703
January 22, 2026 at 2:36 PM
January 22, 2026 at 3:45 AM
Friends don’t let friends think Zinn’s People’s History was groundbreaking.

DuBois’s Black Reconstruction? THAT was groundbreaking, 45 years before Zinn.
January 21, 2026 at 2:35 PM
Thomas in Bruen: you gotta document "history and tradition"

Hawai'i: Look, here are examples from "history and tradition" supporting our gun laws.

Thomas: No, not like that.
NY vs Bruen, written by J Thomas, said we have to look to "history and tradition" of gun laws to decide if a new one is Constitutional. So defenders of HI's law cite them 19th C Black Codes, laws which prevented Black people from carrying guns onto private land THAT DOESN'T COUNT, say the Justices.
January 20, 2026 at 5:37 PM
Corresponding with a prospective doctoral student about campus vs virtual visit, and I explained that either is just fine because there are plenty of admitted applicants who are unable to travel, including "almost tall international applicants."
January 20, 2026 at 3:19 PM
Now that they've moved to @beehiiv.com, I'm a happily paid subscriber (again) to @arizonaagenda.bsky.social
January 19, 2026 at 7:28 PM
The dentist office that was auditioning for my business* is now inspiring a Venn-diagram-in-process.

* My current dentist is retiring soon, and an urgent issue popped up in late Dec when they were closed.
January 18, 2026 at 1:19 AM
Denver's OT all-PI offense.
January 18, 2026 at 1:11 AM
To anyone in ICE or CBP out in Minneapolis today looking to violate rights:

זאָלסטו זיך אויסגליטשן אויף שוואַרצן אייז, באַקומען צעבראָכענע עקביינער, און פֿאַרגיסן דיין הייסן קאַווע אין דיין קראָטש
January 17, 2026 at 4:47 PM
My approach is when I see someone I generally agree with engage in what I think is ableism, AND IF I HAVE TIME AND THIS IS NOT BECOMING AN ENERGY VAMPIRE, to call them in, not call them out. Including things like suggesting alternatives.

Instead of stupid, idiot, moron, try blowhard, asshat, Nazi.
Someone in my mentions said it was ableist to make fun of Trump's widely-reported personal stench and ok Bluesky ok
January 16, 2026 at 12:44 AM
This is the first credible call for a general strike in the US in decades. The 1934 Minneapolis general strike lasted more than 3 months. (In the US general strikes have been local, historically.)
January 14, 2026 at 6:14 AM
Tell the nearest 9-year-old about Claudette Colvin. Real-life hero, real person.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Claudette Colvin, whose refusal to move seats on a segregated bus helped spark the civil rights movement, dies at 86.
January 13, 2026 at 11:09 PM
The guideline from @juliametraux.bsky.social is enormously sensible, and source-focused. I intend to steal (and credit!) and spread.
I don't reshare videos of current events from accounts of people who 1) didn't film it themselves or 2) aren't a news sources because there's frankly so much AI, and it sucks.
January 13, 2026 at 11:06 PM
I have long seen @bakerdphd.bsky.social within the class of folks who understand history clearly. Now the world can, too.

Thank you, Dominique.
Censorship Arrives on Campus
In her debut column, “Echoes in the Quad,” higher education policy scholar Dominique J. Baker explores how the political oppression of the McCarthy era reverberates in the stifling of academic freedom...
www.insidehighered.com
January 13, 2026 at 2:23 PM
Just created a MS review queue of 19 potential reviewers: 4 ed board members, 6 recent(ish) authors of articles in the journal, and 9 ad hoc. Took an hour and a half (including reading the MS). That's faster than I used to be. Hope that's a trend!
January 12, 2026 at 6:23 PM
Two great games
January 11, 2026 at 4:23 AM
History is complicated part 37
Given my mentions lately, need to point something out:

The invention of modern policing was a multipronged process, and slave catching was just one part in one place.

The first modern police forces were in the North, and slavery wasn’t their target.
January 11, 2026 at 4:19 AM
A sharp explanation of why Oster's recent NYT column is so painful.
January 10, 2026 at 11:11 PM
The Skidding Stones
Slightly diminish a band.

Failed Coup
Slightly diminish a band.

Led Blimp
January 10, 2026 at 7:14 PM
The Larvae
Slightly diminish a band.

Failed Coup
Slightly diminish a band.

Led Blimp
January 10, 2026 at 7:13 PM