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Robert Paulett

@robertpaulett

Historian of early America and bits of Britain. Apostate southerner. Yells about maps, St. Louis, and higher ed.

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Latest posts by Robert Paulett @robertpaulett

Historians centuries from now: “Oh, so the rich stoked a backlash to another era of expanding civil rights in order to amass power. And then they cratered the country again. Thank goodness we’re past that now.”

Right before they step on the damn rake in their own time.

07.03.2026 04:57 👍 5 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Seriously. Asking how people manage to escape them.

07.03.2026 01:32 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

How can anyone ever feel lonely when university alumni offices exist?

07.03.2026 01:31 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0

If that means we suddenly own Tesla, well, bully for us.

06.03.2026 21:36 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

It would take too long and cost too much to prosecute this. Only sure way to get our stolen money back is 100% tax rate on all wealth above than $100million.

06.03.2026 21:35 👍 5 🔁 1 💬 1 📌 0

Between producing this guy and the other guy, we should unplug St. Louis area private schools until we figure out what's going on.

06.03.2026 20:13 👍 11 🔁 1 💬 1 📌 0

The course’s subtitle is “Sometimes it’s okay to just go work at the bank”

06.03.2026 16:35 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0

Ope, 17. Careers in History

06.03.2026 16:23 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0

Yeah I’m curious to see what that one looks like, too, once I actually put the syllabus together.

06.03.2026 16:17 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0

You wear a lot of hats at a regional public. Best thing for my scholarship, when I can actually get around to my scholarship.

06.03.2026 16:16 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

11. The Invention of Race
12. Am Rev and Constitution
13. Age of Black Revolution (new)
14. Grad Theory and Methods
15. Grad Research Seminar
16. Whatever else they ask me to

06.03.2026 16:14 👍 4 🔁 0 💬 2 📌 0

1. World History since 1500
2. African-American history to 1877
3. US to 1877
4. History of the Museum
5. History of the American Home
6. Historiography
7. Senior Research Seminar
8. Conspiracy in American History
9. Grad Seminar in Native Am
10. Grad Seminar in Atlantic Slavery

06.03.2026 16:11 👍 7 🔁 0 💬 2 📌 0

Especially since it kind of hijacked the Kevin Costner genre of sweeping historical epic and sent it careening into insanity.

06.03.2026 03:21 👍 5 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

God forgive me, but Braveheart would be fun.

06.03.2026 03:16 👍 8 🔁 0 💬 2 📌 0

But, man, you should see my course offerings.

06.03.2026 01:14 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

So of course now I’m mostly working in British studies, go fig

06.03.2026 01:11 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0

1. North American Borderlands
2. Native American History
3. US and World to 1865
4. Colonial Latin America

06.03.2026 01:10 👍 3 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 1

Tobacco farmer.
Alcoholic ne’er-do-well.

05.03.2026 19:05 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

That new Tower Grove bike lane’s gonna be full of these things.

05.03.2026 19:00 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Say hi to Yorktown Pub for me.

05.03.2026 05:23 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

They also invited me to tag along on this camping/busking trip they were planning to make through Canada and I said “can’t I’m starting grad school in two weeks” and that’s how I missed my best chance to become a member of the Opry.

05.03.2026 05:19 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Once got drunk with my friends, the future members of Old Crow Medicine Show, and sang their brand new song “Wagon Wheel” on the roof of a bar.

05.03.2026 04:43 👍 9 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0

Speaking of the value of failure in higher education.

04.03.2026 20:37 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

“I see. You think that. Interesting. And now here is the part where I surgically remove your soul because you’re wrong…”

04.03.2026 20:36 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Every Chotiner excerpt gives me the strongest flashbacks being in seminar with Bob Gross. (Bob played the Chotiner role, obvs)

04.03.2026 20:35 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 2 📌 0

So much of the Ai-in-education pitch is based on the premise that what we want to do is scale up production of mid content. The mid content is only a means to the end of learning to be less mid.

04.03.2026 17:59 👍 12 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0

And yes this is why public subsidy is necessary to education. It gives those who otherwise cannot afford to fail the opportunity to fail.

04.03.2026 17:57 👍 5 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0

Ai does not replace that. It poisons it because Ai never knows it fails and students using it to pass their classes never experience the value of failure.

04.03.2026 17:57 👍 9 🔁 1 💬 2 📌 0

It is low-stakes failure that nurtures learning and growth. What we produce is that space to struggle and grow.

04.03.2026 17:57 👍 19 🔁 3 💬 1 📌 0

You cannot really run a university like a business because our most valuable product is failure.

04.03.2026 17:52 👍 98 🔁 32 💬 2 📌 3