Teaching Sensitive Issues to a Sensitive Audience
I want to share a story about an email that I once received from an unknown colleague. The email depicted me as a conservative, judgmental, and biased instructor. Naturally, it caused a lot of stress in my life. What is shocking is, although he has never met me, the colleague described in vivid detail what he believes was going on in my mind.
The incident happened on a Friday during the second week of the semester. My colleague, Professor A, had come to visit my class at noon. As a member of my bi-annual review committee, he had a duty to produce a report on my performance, including my teaching performance. Originally, I was worried that, because the lecture took place on a Friday, students may be eager to leave the classroom and not pay attention to my lecture. Luckily, students were very interested in the topic and many raised interesting questions and comments during the lecture. They were not in a hurry to leave after class ended because they became so interested in the topic. I felt very good about my class and felt relaxed because I expected that I would have a good report on my teaching.
I was not wrong. Below are two paragraphs taken from my report; I received this report a couple of months later after that Friday lecture. (I didn’t know that I would receive the report. But because of a recent change, the report has become available among colleagues in my department.)
The three members of the committee each visited a different class session. One faculty member reported the following:
Students were initially reticent but Lee adapted, eliciting a show of hands on a basic question that served as a springboard for a lively discussion. Lee engaged productively: seeking clarification from students where needed, challenging them to defend their views, and encouraging expression of a range of views. Even as students warmed to their themes, Lee managed to keep the increasingly lively conversation on track, both topically and in terms of ensuring a range of students were heard. By the time Lee moved on to another case study, students were pushing to join in the discussion rather than having to be pushed. It is not at all easy to elicit and manage such lively and productive discussion in a large class; especially in the traditional fixed seat, amphitheater style venue of [classroom/building]. That Lee was able to get a discussion going at all is impressive, and her ability to tease such productive debate out of an initially reluctant crowd is outstanding.
Another reported:
Professor Lee started with a recap of the previous class, and questions were asked and answered before moving on. What was particularly impressive was that Lee got students to talk to each other, not just to her. She managed the discussion sensitively and efficiently, even when dealing with issues such as abortion and capital punishment. The class went over time, but not because of mismanagement on Lee’s part. It was because the students didn’t want to end the discussion.
The first paragraph is written by a colleague, Professor B, who observed my other class, and the second one is written by Professor A, who attended the said Friday lecture. From the report, you can see that my colleagues see positive value in my Socratic midwifery—I try to help students examine their views by challenging them to respond to possible objections and consider their opponent’s views. Some assume that, in the humanities, professors just give lectures and indoctrinate students. No, that is not what we do. My job is not to tell students what is right and wrong. My job is to train them to evaluate the pros and cons of any theory and become independent critical thinkers. This means I raise questions frequently, not because I intend to question my students, but because I want to help them to reflect on the merits and problems of their views. Also, a lot of times, I ask questions simply because I don’t understand a view and need some clarification.
Later that day, I received an email from a colleague at a different department. I’ll call this colleague Professor M. Below is the email from Professor M.
Dear [My title and full name],
One of my advisees, Student A, is in your [arts and humanities] class. We were talking about how he feels like he is treated differently from other students in the class and I thought I would write to you to help him feel more comfortable in the class and explain why he is feeling this way.
Student A has told me how he participates and shares ideas in class, having prepared and understood the material, but has been consistently misunderstood by you. He feels that he is asked to clarify more often than other students and has also had his comments taken out of context. He is feeling like he is being criticized or not valued while other students do not seem to get such treatment.
As an example, when discussing Cultural Relativism and the issue of infanticide among Eskimos, someone had asserted that it was wrong because women could have less children by refraining from sex. He had commented that according to the book, women did not have such choice because men had power in their society, including over sex, however it was taken out of context and the reaction was as if he had said women could not control themselves.
When I suggested that [Student A] talk with you about this, he told me how he did try to explain how he was feeling and was misunderstood. He felt that instead of addressing the reaction to his participation, the conversation became about whether or not he understood the material.
[Student A] has social anxiety and is feeling discouraged from participating in class. As he does not see this treatment occurring with other students' comments, he feels targeted. He has not felt this way in his other classes before including other Philosophy courses.
I am hoping you have some ideas of how [Student A] can feel comfortable sharing ideas in class without feeling like he is treated differently from other students or that you are regularly assuming he means something different from what he is trying to express.
I'd like to hear your ideas or if you feel more comfortable calling, my extension is [00000] and I will be in the office [from time to time]
[Professor M]
I was shocked to hear all these descriptions about my mental state from a total stranger. That is not how I felt at all. All these descriptions make assumptions about my mental content, which he has no way of knowing. I know how I felt and that simply is not how I felt.
I was entirely clueless as to what it was that I did that made Student A think that I had all these feelings. I am perfectly sure that I didn’t make any comment about his view of women. I am also perfectly sure that I didn’t feel that way because I simply don’t feel that way. When I teach, my focus is on the arguments of both sides and I try to keep the discussion focused on the argument so that we don’t deviate to unrelated issues. In any case, the lecture was not about women’s sexual desire at all.
I received this email on the same day Professor A visited my class. As I mentioned earlier, I thought it was quite a good lecture, so I was shocked to hear these comments. However, I was eager to learn why Student A felt this way because I thought everything went well—he participated in the discussion as usual and I did not feel that anything was wrong. I emailed Professor M back and asked to meet him in person. Readers might wonder why I said that I have never met him. Long story short, after my request, Student A was concerned that he had upset me and requested that Professor M call off the meeting. Student A wanted to talk to me before I talked to Professor M. I emailed them both to say that I could meet them individually or together.
The following Monday, I saw student A before I entered the classroom. He was probably waiting for me outside the classroom. When I saw him, I smiled at him and said hi. Immediately he asked, “Are you mad at me?” I was puzzled by this question because I just saw him two seconds ago and nothing happened during those two seconds. Why would I be mad at him? I said “No, what do you mean? Why would I be mad at you?” He seemed relieved. Then he told me that he wasn’t feeling well and would like to take a break on that day. I told him that it was okay. I remind him to watch the lecture video recording and submit the writing assignment as soon as he can. I also told him that I hope he feels better soon.
Later that day, after I was done with my lectures, I realized that when Student A asked: “Are you mad at me?” He was not concerned about what he did that day but about Professor M’s email to me. He was worried that I’d be mad at him because he talked to his mentor about me.
Actually, I don’t blame him for suspecting that I was targeting him. There are two reasons. First, I have a friend who also suffers from anxiety. She can no longer work because she believes that everyone is targeting her. My understanding is that (and I might be wrong) some people are very sensitive about other people’s feelings and this may affect how they view people’s comments, tending to interpret comments and responses in a negative light. Second, I can see why he may feel targeted because I ask lots of questions. I never counted, but I probably did ask him more questions. However, that is not because I was targeting him. I probably just didn’t understand his view and was asking him to clarify, or I was again practicing the Socratic Method. If you read Plato, then you know why people say Socrates was like a gadfly.
More than a week later I saw Student A sitting in the back of the classroom. I smiled and waved at him. After setting up the projector, I walked to him and asked if I could speak with him briefly outside. He nodded. We walked out of the door. I told him: I understand that I might have asked you a lot of questions, but it’s because I don’t understand your view. It is just my teaching method. I ask a lot of questions. And I’m likely to ask you a lot of questions again in the future, so try to get used to it.
He nodded. And he really understands. It was as simple as that. From that day on, life goes back to normal. He would walk with me after the lecture to discuss his views on the reading and share what he feels are funny comments in the lecture. He also emails me and shares with the class things he finds interesting. He was enjoying the class. Once in a while, he would email me and tell me that he was not feeling well because of his anxiety. However, overall, he seems to enjoy the class. He got an A, as I expected.
Three things I did right. First, I record all my lectures. Some might think that I probably did make judgmental comments to my students. Otherwise, why would he say all these things about me? For those who do not believe that I can conduct a fair lecture, I invited you to watch my lecture recording. They are both educational and entertaining.
I know that many colleagues are concerned that, if lectures are recorded, then students will stop showing up to class meetings. This is a valid concern. My solution to the attendance problem is to give students in-class assignments. They can submit these assignments only when they are in class or have valid excuses.
Second, I have colleagues in my field to observe my teaching. You can tell from the report that they see educational value in my challenging my students. I teach controversial issues and it is not uncommon for professors to get into trouble because students simply misunderstand the lecture. Some believe they heard the professor saying something politically incorrect when the professor was only giving an example of a possible objection without endorsing that view. In teaching controversial topics, one must present the views of all sides. Students sometimes take the view of one side to be ours, which is a misunderstanding that can ruin one’s career.
Most importantly, I talked to the student. He’s new to my classroom, so he did not know anything about me or my Socratic midwifery. I do raise a lot of questions and objections in my classes because this is how we train critical thinkers. I challenge students not because I disagree with them, but because I want to train them to become critical thinkers who know all sides of the story.
At the end of the day, the most important thing in my life is not a stranger’s comment about me, but my student’s well-being and my career. I love teaching, and just like most colleagues in higher education, I love my students. Most of the time when I got out of the classroom, I was smiling because some students had made funny comments and I realized they had learned something. I felt very blessed to have a job that brings me satisfaction and a sense of achievement. It is a privilege to be in a position to help young minds grow. I hope that my experience can be useful to colleagues who also teach controversial topics.
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