Fandom High School

"During most of our time together, I've been the one supplying the topics which we've shaped our discussions around. And I hope that that's been useful to you all. After all, it is often the case that the most difficult questions we find ourselves faced with come from other people."

Anne smiled wryly. "After all, our own brains tend to try to protect us from things we don't want to deal with, so they're often quite unreliable when it comes to difficult but important questions."

"But resolving conflicts without needing to resort to violence is often as much about asking the right questions as it is about being comfortable in difficult conversations. So today, that is what we're going to practice: asking questions."

"Once again, I'm going to want you to find a partner to work with, but rather than me providing you with a topic, I want you to take turns initiating conversation with a question. Your goal is, by the end of this class period, each of you should have learned one thing you could do for the other that would meaningfully improve their life."

Anne lifted a hand in a vague gesture. "I'll leave 'meaningful' up to your personal judgments, but I do encourage you to go a little deeper than that they could totally go for a pizza right now. And remember: your first question may only lead you to another question. Keep digging until you feel like you've gotten an answer that really satisfies you."

"Welcome back." Anne's usual smile was, perhaps, a little bit brighter than usual.

"We've spent our three weeks of class so far discussing a very specific non-violent approach to resolving conflicts: discussion. We've sought to hone our conversational skills, to improve our ability to examine our own positions, and others'. And while that will continue to be one of our primary focuses as we move forward, today we're going to discuss another tactic that's worth having in your arsenal."

She turned, writing on the board, and then stepping away with a flourish to reveal what she'd written. "Leave," she recited as she turned back to the class. "Sometimes this will be simple. In many situations, you can simply turn and walk away from whatever conflict crops up. Sometimes it will be more complicated. You may be in a location that precludes that option, such as an elevator."

Anne's smile slipped just a bit, dipping toward melancholy before recovering. "Sometimes you will find it difficult to leave because of your convictions. Because you can't simply walk away from a particular discussion even if it isn't violent. Or you may find yourself in conflict with someone who matters too much to you for you to simply walk away."

"So, before you can employ this particular technique, it's going to be important to recognize what situations you can use it in, and what situations you can't. And, as usual, the answer to that question is going to be different for each of you."

"So, today, let's take that as our topic of discussion: what sorts of situations do you feel comfortable walking away from? And, in such situations, what can change that makes you feel like you have to stay?"

"For myself, family is almost impossible to walk away from. I did do it once because I thought everyone would be better off that way, but in the end I regretted that decision. So, what about each of you?"

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.