Essays By Alfred Thompson

This page is being updated on an occasional basis. New essays will be showing up over time as I finish writing them. Those already here are being reviewed and edited. Check essay descriptions for date of most recent update.

Blogs:

I have a blog called Computer Science Teacher at blogs.msdn. The focus of it is hints, tips, and useful information for teachers of computer science in K-12. It may be interesting to students as well. I hope so.

I have a Social Computing blog at Windows Live Spaces. If you found my essays on online communities interesting you may enjoy this blog. 

I also have a blog at theSpoke.net. That site is more aimed at students for the most part though there are a lot of non-students there as well. I tend to blog there about a lot of the things I used to write essays about. But now I write a lot more often.

• How I Became a Christian My testimony - how I came to know Jesus as Lord and Savior 10 March 1997
• Why I Believe This was written for a small group of friends but I thought I would publish it here as well. 12 March 2002
• Live Like You Are Living is a sort of call for finding balance in ones life. 28 May 2006
• The Problem with Textbooks A real short call for a change in the way textbooks are writen and university professors are rewarded. 04 January 2007
• A Computer Education Manifesto A discussion of issues related to computer education in America in grades K-12. 26 November 1997
• Building On-Line Communities Lessons learned from over a decade of working with on-line communities. Updated 8 May 1999
• Me? A Teacher? The interesting story of how a software engineer found himself teaching school. Including kindergarten no less! 10 March 1997
• Trip Report - East Hampton Middle School In April 1995, I visited the East Hampton Middle School. This is the trip report I wrote about that visit. I'll try and get around to updating my reflections now that I have more experience in education. Posted 24 March 1997
• Anonymous Political Commentators and the Internet A very rough essay, feedback please, on how people need to take ownership of Internet statements for them to really make a difference. 7 April 1997
• Internet Advertising A brief discussion of the current state of advertising on the Internet. Adapted from "There Must Be A Pony In Here Somewhere!" which is listed below. 10 June 1996
• There Must Be A Pony In Here Somewhere! Some thoughts on the search for profits on the Internet. Optimism meets reality. 23 May 1996
• A Philosophy of Education My own, still developing, philosophy of education. It comments on the roles of both parents and government in selecting and funding education. It's a bit different - perhaps even radical in some ways. Let me know what you think. 10 March 1996
• Search Me? A discussion of the implications of searching patrons of public events. 10 March 1996
• Pro Choice? A discussion of what a true pro-choice political philosophy would be if the term had not been co-opted by the pro legalized abortion lobby. 17 March 1996
• Freedom of the Press and Responsibility of the Press Observations on the role and responsibilities of the news media in a free society. 7 April 1996
• School Choice and Vouchers Making the case for vouchers or other systems to provide public funding for private, including parochial, school education. Includes answers to frequent objections to such funding. 25 April 1996

Essays By Other People

Please let me know if you have any trouble reaching any of these links. They are part of Web sites that I have no responsibility for nor control over.

• A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace Just what it sounds like. A statement on behalf of those of us who consider Cyberspace a real place with it's own culture, values, and organization. Written by John Perry Barlow.
• But are we protecting them? An essay by Jim Burrows, a friend of mine, who writes this essay as part of the 24 Hours of Democracy project. It deals with Internet censorship and how do we best protect our children from the Internet.
• A Bill of Rights Status Report This report was written by Eric Postpischil. It discusses the status of the first ten amendments to the Constitution of the United States and how the government is gradually infringing on the rights they enumerate.