Boom!

This week I experienced one of the most affirming examples of a student breakthrough I've even seen in twenty-plus years of college teaching. And it was in my "bad class"! (I know I shouldn't call it that; many of the students are quite dedicated to succeeding.) The student I'm writing about was the one who said on the first day, "I'll argue about anything with anyone anywhere!" You can probably guess what kind of impression that made on me and his classmates. He seemed like the type who would always think he was right, no matter how hard the opposition attempted to convince him otherwise.

In Tuesday's class, this student gave his presentation, which is associated with the informative essays all students wrote recently. As he began, he said he had learned a few things. He had intended to present on the "real" reasons for the Civil War; he sincerely believed it had nothing to do with slavery. But a funny thing happened -- as he researched for his essay, he found that there were economic and political reasons for the Civil War, but they were all based on slavery and the South's desire to have free labor to work their plantations. In front of the entire class, this man admitted that not only was he wrong, but his father and his grandfather (who had passed along their version of history) were also wrong. I found this to be quite commendable, not because I necessarily care what my students think, but because I want to see that they understand why they think what they think. Of course, there's the additional bonus of seeing evidence that they are thinking. That is why this all blew me away.

There's yet another layer to this story, one that is perhaps even more important. This young man has a three-month-old son. Because of what this student learned, his child will grow up with a different perspective. The student acknowledged that his new-found views may present a conflict with his family (previous generations) but said he couldn't agree with them anymore, at least not on that subject. I don't see this as a personal victory; all I did was give the assignment. But it sure was a wonderful thing to see.