A post-election conversation with our students: a suggestion

I am writing this post more so as a brief reflection about how I approached speaking to my classes today (11/6) after the results of the US presidential (any many other) elections. This post may be rough and brief, but I think for those of you who are teaching Political Science (broadly) or engaging with your students in some capacity today or in the next few days about the US election, this might be interesting to consider. This post might not be relevant anymore next week – or it could help in general facilitate a conversation about any “touchy” current issues that we feel necessary to clue our students into.

I did not want to go this morning to my first class at 8AM EST (and then later at 10 and 11AM EST again), monologuing to my undergraduate students about my feelings, and accidently creating some sort of chain reaction, which ultimately could only result in me creating a worse classroom environment for the rest of the semester. Rather, I wanted to provide a space in which they can share what is on their mind.

This can be a difficult task. At least at my current institution (and probably other spaces in which Gen-Z resides), there seems to be a hesitancy to talk politics and policies in general but more so about those that affect us personally. I knew walking in and saying “who wants to share how they feel” or “who’d like to talk a bit about last night/today” would leave me with crickets.

Instead, I grabbed a stack of index cards, handed them out at the beginning of class, and I asked my students to anonymously write down how they are doing. I gave them 5ish minutes (keeping an eye on whether students were still writing), and then I collected the cards again. I shuffled them, and while I was doing that I expressed my reasoning for why I think an open public forum might not be the best, based on my perception of prior behavior. Once done shuffling, I handed them back to the class, each student picking one card, and I asked them to just read out another person’s thoughts/feelings.

As people were reading these statements out loud, I made a comment here and there based on data available about the election process. In all three classes, students expressed positive/negative sentiments across the whole political spectrum, some were short, other statements were long, and some got quite personal. I believe the anonymity added to the ability to express their political feelings/concerns/elations. I took their positions in stride, just letting folks say what they needed.

In the end, I gave them some of my brief thoughts about how I felt, tying it to specific policy concerns I have (i.e., reproductive rights, immigration, safety for family/friends). I also highlighted some rhetoric that was used during the campaign to talk about the profession of a college professor and the powers that we are seemingly ascribed in teaching. (Many of you have seen me write about my issues about getting students to simply read, so I humbly reject the notion that I am able to create any sort of movements in class sessions that meet three times a week for 50 mins.) Lastly, I ended this roughly 15 minute long exercise by sharing some election highlights I thought were worth noting besides just the presidential race (i.e., reproductive rights in 6 out 9 states secured, a long list of “firsts” (i.e., first openly transperson being elected to Congress)), and I reminded them that politics happen every day – not just every 2 to 4 years.

In brief conversations with students after my classes, this notion of anonymity (and perhaps, therefore, freedom in a sense) seemed to resonate well with them, as it too the pressure of them to perform in some way. Do as you want with this anecdotal evidence.

How are other folks approaching this conversation? If at all?

(Please let me know if there is credit to give to someone who has written about this more eloquently or suggested this practice in the first place. I decided on the spot this morning to proceed this way, but I am sure this practice has been around for much longer and applied in different capacities/spaces.)