fandomhigh | American History, Period 2, 01/08

When students entered the classroom today, they would find not one, but two men standing at the front. One of them was probably familiar to some of them, the other one was a new face... Although his wardrobe probably needed a little updating.

"This, boys and girls, is your all-purpose catchup class on the history of the United States of America," the new teacher said, straightening out his brown duster coat as he surveyed the group. "I'm Nathan Algren." A pause. "Captain Nathan Algren. Just call me Algren if you have to call me anything at all. And I imagine a few of you already have a passing acquaintance with my associate and your other instructor for this class, Mr. Durden."

The younger man stepped out with a slight grin and folded his arms. "Right, I'm Tyler Durden," he supplied. "And, just to break all of your hearts, I'm not blowing anything up in class this term. Call me Tyler, Mr. Durden, Sam might even get away with calling me a Stickbug, I am not fussy. Anyhow, as Captain Algren told you, this is American History. We're going to try to get from pre-Columbian times through current events and hit the turning points along the way."

"Because I'm more than a few decades behind the times," Algren continued, "I'll be taking the brunt of the workload for the first half of the semester, covering whatever I can right on up to America's centennial year. Mr. Durden will take it from there, bringing the lot of you up to date." And bringing Algren up to date as well, but he wasn't going to tell that to the class. "But today, we're going to take pity on you all and get introductions out of the way."

"We want to get you started thinking about history as a living thing," Tyler said. "Something you can interact with and have opinions about, not just a set of dates blah blah blah. So we'd like you to stand and state your name, grade, and one historic figure -- and it can be your world's history, if you aren't from the U.S. -- who you would like to confront."

"We're going to be pretty open as to the definition of 'confront,' here. It can be someone you want to tell off for choosing to do things a certain way, someone who you would like to start a coup against, or even somebody who you think needs a punch to the face." Algren wasn't picky, here. "And then tell us why. For example, I'm Captain Nathan Algren, I'm co-teaching this class, and I would personally like to have a long, serious chat with Lieutenant Colonel Custer for not opening his eyes before getting most of his men killed. But we'll get to that in another class."

"The one before your midterms," Tyler added helpfully. "And I would like to have a long discussion with Mahatma Gandhi and see if we could come to an agreement over the necessity of violence." Possibly with hitting, but the class didn't need to know that.

He gestured to one of the students. "You can start. And Ms. Yamanata, see me after class, please."

[OCD is up! Class roster, rules, and syllabus are located here!]

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Put on your ~~fighting~~ challenging face!

Listen, take notes, wonder what in the world is wrong with your teachers, that sort of thing.

You! Name, class, which historical figure you would challenge, and why!

Once she knows she is one, of course!

They don't bite. Really.

There are better ways to make students suffer, after all. ♥

If I could challenge any historical figure at all, it would have to be whoever it was who invented airplane seats that are too low to put a pet carrier taller than 8.5" under them. Yep.

Yamanaka Ino

"Yamanaka," she muttered very, very quietly.

Besides, she was more amused that Tyler-sensei had primarily managed to stick to his form for introductions even when another teacher was there too.

"I'm Ino Yamanaka, a sophomore, and I... guess I can't get away with either of my usual answers for this one, so um..."

A long, long pause.

"You know," she said slowly, "I honestly don't know. I mean, I don't like some decisions of some people, but when my village has done the same or worse as any other village it's hard to pick one person to lecture. Especially when I don't know all their circumstances 'round why they did what they did."

"I didn't do anything," Ino announced, wandering over to Tyler-sensei. As ordered.

Sookie Stackhouse

Teddy Altman

"I'm Sookie Stackhouse, I'm a sophomore, and I'd confont...William Tecumseh Sherman."

There. That seemed like the best answer for a good Southern girl like herself.

Harvey Dent

"That's an interesting answer, Miss Yamanaka," Algren noted, raising an eyebrow. "Are you simply accepting the way things are, then, without wondering what might have put your villages into situations which cause them to take the actions that they have? You said that yours has done the same or worse as any other, is that because you find yourself in a situation that might be different, were actions made differently in the past?"

"Major General Sherman?" Algren crossed his arms over his chest and tilted his head a little, bemused at the reply. "And is there any one reason why you would challenge him in particular?"

"He destroyed the South. And a lot of it just to be vindictive. I understand about war, I do, but he didn't have to go as far as he did," she said firmly.

"Well," she said, tugging at a bit of her hair, "I mean, there's not much I can do but accept the way things are now, right? I mean, I can change the present and work on changing the future, but the past isn't something I can alter. So it... almost seems silly to say 'if this and this were done differently then we wouldn't be like this' because we are like that. You can learn from the past, sure, but you've also got to, you know, accept it and make your changes for the future. Dwelling on something like 'if I could've changed that there' just leads to a lot of headaches 'cause you can't change it."

"You find his methods questionable," Algren noted, nodding. "A brilliant strategist, but ruthless, destroying the property of civilians to ensure that his enemy never find secure footing where he's passed."

He was pacing, now, eyebrows raised, lips pursed in thought.

"I'm curious, and understand that I won't think less of you regardless of your answer, but does this blame rest solely on Sherman's head, or do you find the Union Army as a whole guilty for those actions?"

"You're right," Algren agreed, nodding. "You can't change what happened. But you can direct your future. Instead of challenging anyone in particular from the past, Miss Yamanaka, is there anyone you know of in the present who, if you had the ability to steer in a direction you thought was right, you would confront? Not to change today or yesterday, but to improve upon tomorrow, instead?"

"I think," Sookie said carefully, weighing her words, "that his decisions could have been better, and that people looked right to him, as they should. He was the leader. I'm sure not every Yankee approved of what he had them doing, but he was the one who could've put the brakes on, and he didn't. He surely had other people advising him, but he was in charge. He could have done it different, and he didn't. He hurt civilians and their property to make his chances a little better. And like I said, I understand war, at least in theory? But he crossed a line. He crossed about forty lines, really, during his March to the Sea. We still haven't forgotten, you know. I might not be from Georgia or anything, but over in Louisiana, people still call it the War of Northern Aggression for a reason."

"Actions such as those against innocent people are often the most difficult to forget," Algren replied, giving a curt nod as his pacing wore down and he leaned backward against his desk. "I can appreciate your answer, Miss Stackhouse. There are... few excuses, even in war, for victimizing those who posed no threat to begin with."

He took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a moment. Northern Aggression. Hm. His class on the Civil War was going to be an interesting one, at least.

"Thank you."

Alice Liddell

"My name is Alice Liddell," she said, standing and folding her hands behind her back. "I'm a junior this year. I would say that I'd confront the Red Queen, except I already did confront her, so perhaps that shouldn't count. Queen Victoria, then. I would like to have some strong words with her about her notions of propriety."

Alice had been wearing trousers and plain shirts for months, and had yet to descend into unutterable ruin. She should have noticed that sort of thing.

"Propriety by her standards does seem to be a bit overrated in this day and age, doesn't it?" Algren hadn't been on the island for long, but he found it difficult not to notice the quantities of women casually walking around in pants. "At least you can console yourself by knowing that standards have changed somewhat over the years, Miss Liddell?"

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American History, Period 2, 01/08

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