A typical high school history class is just one of those classes you have to force yourself through to graduate. Unless you live, breathe, and sleep history, it sucks. At a typical school, it takes a very special breed of student to opt into an AP history class, especially one as seemingly dull as European History. At Mt. Carmel High School however, if you don’t opt into European Civilizations you are missing out on a quintessential part of your high school experience and this isn’t due to the content of the class. Although learning about Mary Queen of Scots gives great context for watching the tv drama Reign, the real reason AP Euro is so renowned is due to the man behind the class, Lord Lee Raskin.

Walking into his room, you are greeted by a large portrait of the man himself immortalized in royal fashion and brandishing his weapon of choice, a pool noodle. Larger than life does not begin to describe Mr. Raskin. His official title of “Lord” further explains his endearingly pretentious personality. Mr. Raskin spent $50 on a certificate of lordship from the principality of Sealand; an abandoned WWII fortress island built off the coast of Britain that is now recognized (more or less) as an independent country. His teaching style is based satire, storytelling, and creating informative jokes about the content. APEC students don’t have a chance to fall asleep in class because most of the time they are too busy laughing at the class lectures. Although he is gifted in making unbearably dull information easy to remember, he also understands the relatively limited application of the content he teaches.

Mr. Raskin works to expand the curriculum of his class to include public speaking, current events, politics, and works to apply history to all of these topics. One of the ways he does this is through a weekly assignment fittingly named “Current Events.” Following the philosophy that current events are history in the making, the assignment is to find something influential or interesting in the news that has happened over the last week and to give a short presentation of it to the class. This assignment gives virtual freedom to students to report on anything they choose, given one of the only guidelines is to avoid anything having to do with a Kardashian. Students given the freedom to report on what they feel to be important allows a deeper insight into a student’s passions and that promotes understanding and tolerance between peers. This assignment is beneficial to students as well, by insuring they have at least one assignment weekly that is actually interesting and simultaneously bettering public speaking skills.

Through comedic cynicism and a completely original teaching style, Mr. Raskin encourages students to pursue passions and apply things they learn to growing an interdisciplinary understanding of the world. He is always open to participate in discussion about nearly anything if for no reason other than solely to learn about something new. His mentality as an educator to focus on the bigger picture is something that makes Mr. Raskin’s class a truly unique and important experience for any high school student.