November 11, 2024: Teaching moments -

Most of the students in my PSU class this term are pre-law, or pre-government; it’s a 400-level Poli Sci course. If they aren’t prepared to discuss the reading when they are called on, their grades drop. It’s like the movie version of law school.

The students are idealistic, smart and likable, except for one self-appointed provocateur. He opposes child labor laws, for instance, because poor families need money! He’s that guy.

He isn’t named Redwood, but close. I wonder if he is rebelling against hippie parents.  

Thursday, we had twenty minutes set aside for election discussion, and Redwood grabbed the floor: “Calm down! Everything is fine! People keep saying Trump is HITLER, and he ISN’T, but if he WAS Hitler, then you ought to TAKE HIM OUT. Why aren’t you doing that? WHY? Because you know he isn’t Hitler! If you really thought he was, you’d be storming the capitol, you’d ICE the guy! Why aren’t you ICING him? Why are Democrats so WEAK?!?!”

The prof handled it firmly but calmly, eventually ending with “If political violence is the first solution we think of, we are already lost.” Redwood, who addresses the prof as a bro, (“Thompson, how you doing?”) piped down, briefly.

I’ve been muttering ripostes to Redwood for days. A very small, compassionate part of me can see he is friendless and craves attention. The rest of me is sick of him. (Some male students tolerate him in a “debate opponent” way, but the women stonily avoid him. It’s a senior level class, and I’m guessing many of them have endured him for years.)

What to do with these guys? I don’t know. My husband was a dorm counselor in college, and can sometimes defuse obnoxious men by saying, “Dude.” Me, I can’t say “dude” to anyone.

I hung out after class to talk to the professor. So did Redwood, but I outlasted him. I walked the prof to his office. He looked drained.

There is a lot of advice out there right now. We know Trumpian times are chaotic and big changes are planned/threatened. Some advice is fairly mundane: Quick, stockpile olive oil and imported delicacies and t-shirts before tarriffs drive your favorite little stores out of business! Most advice is much more sobering, like that aimed at same sex couples (update your POA and your will, formally adopt your children, move to another state), or families that include undocumented Americans (untold advice), or government employees soon to lose their jobs, or… name a disruption.

The advice aimed at women is legal, financial, and medical: If married, get divorced while you still can; Establish credit in your own name. If you have periods, delete period apps from your phone. If you might want to preserve your fertility until later in your sexually active life, get an IUD now, stockpile plan B and mifepristone, and get your friends and relatives to stockpile too. If you don’t want (more) kids, Quick! get your tubes tied or have a hysterectomy, no worries about uterine cancer! Soon there will be few gynecologists. Also, this Court could implement a nationwide abortion ban, reneging even on “let the states decide.” An ectopic pregnancy or sepsis could kill you, not just in red states but everywhere, so Quick! Renew your passport, or just move to another country.

It’s a lot.

The Poli Sci professor wasn’t drained because of Redwood. He’s used to Redwood. He wasn’t drained because people are getting bombarded with dire advice. He was drained because he is a teacher, and he wanted to teach his students how to live under authoritarianism. He has family who've done it.

Authoritarian regimes famously don’t like college professors, and tend to restrict what they can teach without losing their jobs. So he had taken the end of class to give his advice to his young idealists. He’d said: Most importantly, be safe. Don’t “pre-emptively” obey, giving up your rights before they are taken away. Be true to your principles. But above all, be safe, especially if you are a member of a vulnerable population.

I told him he’d done a good job imparting that difficult message. I don’t think I eased his worries much.