Anne Mayer (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
retired_hero) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
fandomhigh2017-05-16 10:09 pm
retired_hero) wrote in fandomhigh2017-05-16 10:09 pm
Entry tags:
Resolving Conflict Without Violence, Wednesday First Period [Week 2]
Anne was standing at the front of the classroom again, waiting for her students.
"Welcome back," she said with a friendly smile. "I hope you all enjoyed your first week of classes." Her smile flashed impish for a moment. "And it's good to see you came back." She hadn't been sure how many people would want to keep up the class, given the subject matter.
"Last week, we considered personal history and the role of violent and non-violent conflict resolution in our own lives. The usual format for this class will involve debate around contentious topics, the sorts of things that often do lead to violence, in order to offer you all opportunities to practice non-violent resolution when it is at its most difficult: when you really, really want to hit something." Or someone.
She turned, writing on the board with big, bold letters. "Family vs Community," she said, underlining the words on the board. "This is something of a classic dichotomy in philosophical discussions, but that's because it hits so close to home for most people. It's easy to put yourself into a lot of these hypothetical situations."
"So, here's the situation I want you to consider. Wherever you live, a dangerous new disease appears. It kills nine out of ten of the people who contract it, and it's so contagious that no attempt to quarantine it has been successful. The only positive thing is that if you're one of the lucky few to survive it, you become immune to future infections. So far, everyone has just relied on the luck of it not reaching their community. For our purposes, imagine that you caught it yourself while traveling abroad, and have only recently returned home after being cleared by the doctors."
"So you know the symptoms really well. Well enough to recognize them when your favorite family member contracts the disease. Now, you know that the early symptoms are subtle enough that it's unlikely anyone else will realize what has happened for a while."
"So. What do you do? Do you try to keep things hidden, hoping that you'll get lucky and your family will survive like you did? Do you warn your friends and neighbors so that they can keep their distance, and reduce the risk themselves? What other options do you see?"
Anne looked around. "I want you to pair up with each other and tease out the details. While this is a hypothetical situation, and that robs it of some of its emotional punch, I want you to prod for details. Push each other on your contradictions, try to find the specifics of how far each of you is willing to go."
She considered the students around her. "If you just play it safe, refusing to immerse yourself in the situation, you won't get nearly as much out of this exercise as you will if you really get into it."
But, really, it was up to them.
"Welcome back," she said with a friendly smile. "I hope you all enjoyed your first week of classes." Her smile flashed impish for a moment. "And it's good to see you came back." She hadn't been sure how many people would want to keep up the class, given the subject matter.
"Last week, we considered personal history and the role of violent and non-violent conflict resolution in our own lives. The usual format for this class will involve debate around contentious topics, the sorts of things that often do lead to violence, in order to offer you all opportunities to practice non-violent resolution when it is at its most difficult: when you really, really want to hit something." Or someone.
She turned, writing on the board with big, bold letters. "Family vs Community," she said, underlining the words on the board. "This is something of a classic dichotomy in philosophical discussions, but that's because it hits so close to home for most people. It's easy to put yourself into a lot of these hypothetical situations."
"So, here's the situation I want you to consider. Wherever you live, a dangerous new disease appears. It kills nine out of ten of the people who contract it, and it's so contagious that no attempt to quarantine it has been successful. The only positive thing is that if you're one of the lucky few to survive it, you become immune to future infections. So far, everyone has just relied on the luck of it not reaching their community. For our purposes, imagine that you caught it yourself while traveling abroad, and have only recently returned home after being cleared by the doctors."
"So you know the symptoms really well. Well enough to recognize them when your favorite family member contracts the disease. Now, you know that the early symptoms are subtle enough that it's unlikely anyone else will realize what has happened for a while."
"So. What do you do? Do you try to keep things hidden, hoping that you'll get lucky and your family will survive like you did? Do you warn your friends and neighbors so that they can keep their distance, and reduce the risk themselves? What other options do you see?"
Anne looked around. "I want you to pair up with each other and tease out the details. While this is a hypothetical situation, and that robs it of some of its emotional punch, I want you to prod for details. Push each other on your contradictions, try to find the specifics of how far each of you is willing to go."
She considered the students around her. "If you just play it safe, refusing to immerse yourself in the situation, you won't get nearly as much out of this exercise as you will if you really get into it."
But, really, it was up to them.