Last week, I tallied up how much time I spend teaching, grading, or preparing to teach. It was a shocking amount, partly because the number of hours was so high, but also because it doesn’t feel like that much. I love my job teaching sciences at a community college, and, with the exception of grading, it never feels like work.
Most of my time as a teacher is spent asking questions rather than offering answers to them. Working my way through a stack of lab reports, I scrawl the same, “How do you know this?” or “Why would that be?” or “Is it?” across paper after paper. In class, it’s “Does that solve the problem?” and “Can you back that up with evidence?” and “Does your explanation make sense?”
“Would it?” “Is it?” “Why?” seem like more than half the words I utter in a day at work. Asking these questions is how I find out what my students know, but less in a sense of facts or terminology. It gets me to how they think, and I am often surprised. Things I take for granted, they often have never seen before. The assumptions they make, or the holes in their understanding astonish me sometimes, not because they are dumb, but because they are beginners. The farther you get from being a beginner, the easier it is to forget how you felt as one.
On Wednesday morning, I walked into class to silence. There was none of the usual chatter and joking. There was what appeared to be a pool of vomit outside the classroom that public safety was steering people around until it could be cleaned up. I teach in Massachusetts, which had gone, predictably, deep blue for Clinton. Most of my students sat quiet and stunned, though not all. One confessed his fear about the future under Trump, and another snapped, “The country had already gone to shit. Get over it.”
I told them all I just wasn’t equipped to manage a room full of people yelling and talking over each other, so we shifted back to the science at hand, and I pretended to feel normal for them.
Most of the work day, I moved among disappointed Democratic voters. I work in a blue state, but I live in a red town in the purple state next door. In the aftermath of the election, I have seen reams of analysis pointing to the retreat of either side to their respective corners: conservatives to the rural counties; progressives to the big cities. The result is that most people can then live in a comfortable bubble where they only ever hear their own values echoed and reaffirmed to them. The “liberal elite,” they say, can’t hear the other side, marginalizes them, dismisses them all as racist and sexist xenophobes.
I grew up in Massachusetts, but the town I live in now in New Hampshire is Republican 2:1. I have been both within and without the blue bubble. I know what it’s like to be able to presume the political views of everyone around you and be just about right. I went to school out in Amherst, in the Happy Valley, a land of communes and radical vegan stores. There is a great deal of comfort in feeling you are understood–that other people looked over the whole messy situation and concluded the same as you have.
Now, where I live, I assume most of my neighbors disagree with my politics. Chatting with folks around town, I cautiously test, tap the conversation and listen for the solid and the hollow spots in it. There are some like-minded people here, and a lot of differently-minded people. I have opportunities to find out why, looking out over the same country, we see such different things.
Since the election, I have heard plenty of things that disturb me. Students have said, “Who cares anyway? Politics doesn’t matter,” and “Whatever,” and “We just shouldn’t talk about politics. It’s too touchy.” I can’t abide by that, and I tell them so. Our founding fathers would be ashamed of us for that. I’ve heard idle and not so idle threats to move to Canada. I’ve heard people giving up. But worst of all, I’ve heard people on the winning side telling the other to “Get over it,” and “Stop whining.” People comparing the election to a football game where your side lost. Big deal. Move on with your life. I’ve seen people mocking those posting online how scared they are. I’ve seen eye-rolling.
I know a lot of good people who don’t vote the way I do. Who have genuine policy disagreements with me, but who are kind and generous. But I wept over these election results too, and felt waves of nausea, and above all, fear. I genuinely hope this new President does not follow through with what he said he would do all along. I hope he turns out to be a centrist, that he has inventive ideas that only a complete neophyte might have. I cannot root against the President of my own country. I have to hope for his success. I am approaching his Presidency with my beginner’s mind, asking questions whenever I can, rather than offering explanations or answers.
Here’s my first: If you came across a stranger crying on the stoop outside your work, what do you do? Do you ask what’s wrong? Ignore him and shuffle past? And now, what if you came upon a friend sitting there crying? Or a co-worker. An acquaintance. I know it’s awkward to ask someone why he’s so upset. Easier to walk on by and figure he wants his privacy. But I struggle to believe you would push him aside with your foot and tell him to “Get over it,” without knowing what “it” is. Lost job? Cancer? Dog died? Mom died? Aren’t you at least curious?
I am really puzzled by why “get over it” has been the response of so many of the people I know who voted for Trump. When I have asked why they find it so easy to dismiss our concerns, I have gotten many variants of, “Oh, he’s not actually going to do any of those things he said.” Maybe he’s not, but all along, his supporters pointed to how he “Says what he means, and means what he says,” as a selling point. And we took him at his word. Maybe you didn’t. Maybe you thought he was playacting and talking a big game about turning all the tables over and ransacking the place. I hope you’re right, but I fear you are not. And it’s fear, not hope, that keeps people up at night.
Maybe the difference is that, all along, conservatives have had no faith that government can do anything at all. Surely, the fecklessness of our Congress would give you cause. But if you want to know why progressives are clutching our guts and huddling together, it’s because we always have believed in the immense power of government to change people’s lives. What chance we ever had to put some drag on the climate change juggernaut, we see that slipping away. The hundreds of thousands of people, including military veterans, here under DACA who face Trump’s promise to start deporting them on day one, the fragile protections we have on abortion rights, and same sex marriage–these things are life-altering, some life shattering. So how is this “just like a football game that your team lost?”
I want to know more. I want to learn more about why my neighbors, and former students, and current students voted for Trump. It is not strictly necessary that you show any interest in my views in exchange, but it would help. I am reserving judgment on the new President’s actions until he’s actually made some. But I am not just sad because my team didn’t pull off the win and now it’s time to go home. I think about when we were kids, and my father used to say to us, “Stop crying or I’ll give you something to cry about.”
I’m not offering quid pro quo listening. I’m not saying you have to listen to me if you want me to listen to you. I want to understand how we got here. I’ll go first. Tell me what you know.
Thanks again Sarah
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Thank you for reading.
This came through but when I click on your link to read it it says you don’t exist…..
Going to try your Facebook – can’t wait – hope you cheer us up.
Sydney
Sent from my iPhone
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My mother said the same thing! “Stop crying or I will give you something to cry about” and she would – so I did….holding my breath trying to squelch my sobs scared of her next move. Thank you for all that you write – I always enjoy you.
Sydney
Thank you!Yes, my dad was one to deliver on that threat too…
Oh, Sarah,
For the “ninety-‘leventh” time, you knock me over with your powerful and elegant prose. Thank you for this!
and thank you.
We have had very much the same attitude from the leaders of those who voted for Brexit. I wonder why they didn’t give up when they lost votes. It is, as you suggest, most probably because they can’t or don’t want to have to justify how they voted. I don’t have the figures for your national voter turnout but it always helpful to remember what a relatively small percentage of the country vote for winning candidates or parties in first past the post elections when the winners talk about ‘mandates from the country’ or (our current favourite here) ‘the will of the people’.
The will of the people, indeed. It has felt very much like echoes of Brexit to me. We are in the even stranger position this time around of having a candidate win election who actually received fewer votes overall than the loser. The vicissitudes of the electoral college. Estimates are now that Clinton received 2% more of the popular vote than Trump. And yet.
We shouldn’t forget that, for most of his life, Trump was a democrat and it’s awful hard for a leopard to change its spots.
He and his underlings are already backing down on many of the threats and promises he made, including “the wall” healthcare, and prosecuting Clinton.
What I worry about most are his Supreme Court appointees. Depending on who they are they could do a lot of damage.
I agree. The Supreme Court, and climate change are the ones keeping me up at night.
Hi Sarah. I wanted to express my thanks for your post. I really liked it. Even though I have lots of thoughts on it, I don’t have any answers. And some thoughts might be by far off-topic. So, I will be as short as I can.
The outcome of the American election really scared me. However, I have to admit, I did not do a lot of reading on it, because I spent most of my emotional energy on thinking about Brexit. That really hit me, much more than I thought it would. How did we get there? I felt as if my parents are getting divorced. I did not know that so many people in Britain see continental Europe as such a nuisance, or even as a threat.
The American election, on the other hand, left me rather speechless.
Anyway, I never ever want to hear another stupid Nazi joke from any Brit or American, ever again. For both countries have proven that too many of its people are just as susceptible to right wing propaganda. Haven’t they learned anything from German history? Both the referendum and the presidential election have shown that ignorance, media manipulation and divisiveness are obviously just as rampant in their countries as anywhere else. I find all this very frightening.
It is clear to me that we do not learn history all that well here. Or at least, we don’t understand how humans are humans, and susceptible to the same forces whether it’s 1933 or 2016. Media manipulation has been a huge issue, that is very clear too.
First, I think your job is a very important one and I admire teachers very much. You have the chance to REALLY change a life. It might be one or many, but it’s possible.
It is quite amazing how we do live in the same country and see things so differently. I’ve wondered that alot. Is it how we were raised? Is it where we were raised? Is it life experiences? Fruends, family, spouse influence?? I’m baffled. We all are choosing to NOT see certain things and that is what concerns me.
I’m sorry that people are being insensitive. I haven’t said that to anyone, but I did think it honestly. I guess I couldn’t understand why people were SO upset. I would have been totally bummed if Hillary won, but I know I would not have cried, been ill, or lost sleep. I know that the world goes on, and I will always have hope and faith in our country as a whole and it’s wonderful people.
Honestly, I think the media revved up the “Trump is a monster” machine and whipped people into a frenzy. Trust me, I dont like Trump the man, but I believe he CAN get things done, help the entire country prosper and bring together a fantastic team of people who want a great country. I think Hillary represents more of the same in Washington and she has alot of shadiness in her background that worried me. People have to stop buying into the fear mongering and be calm and think clear headed. Donald Trump is NOT rounding up all th he Mexicans and Muslims on da one. It’s not even remotely possible. Same sex marriage and abortion rights are important issues to some and effect many and they will be issues that are argued in court perhaps, but national security and education and our economy effects all Americans and those are his top issues.
I have run into more Trump supporters and I was frankly shocked. I think there are more people out there that want border security, defeat of ISIS, repeal of OBAMA care and a better economy. Things that effect all of us. There are issues that effect one group specifically, but I want to do what is best for all.
I really appreciate this response. It is helpful for me to see these thought processes. It raises more questions for me, and I am trying to stay in “ask questions” mode, rather than “give answers” mode. So here, I wonder, did people voting for Trump think he was just saying these things and not meaning them all along? I agree that he’s backing off his aggressive deportation rhetoric, and honestly, I am not persuaded Obamacare is going anywhere either. So, if Trump supporters knew he didn’t mean this stuff all along, what was the appeal? I mean, if we shouldn’t have believed him about immigration, should we believe him about bringing jobs back? And finally, I still wonder about climate change. That’s the biggie that truly affects us all. As a science teacher, I find lack of concern on that issue very hard to understand and am looking for explanations very genuinely.
I don’t think Trump supporters didn’t believe he was serious about his plans. I believe they discounted his outrageous statements. I knew he couldn’t “round up” all the illegal immigrants. That would gave been impossible. Saying you are bringing jobs back is much more plausible then finding 10 million illegal immigrants and sending them back to several countries. I also feel that any person running for President has high hopes for what he/she would “like” to see happen, but all of us know that only some will happen realistically. Even what Hillary proposed would not have happened. I think it’s designed thst way, so we are happy when ANYTHING happens.
As far as global warming goes, I believe that because there are lots of opinions and not enough definitive research available people are not convinced yet. Also I believe most people are too concerned with day to day life and what effects them now. I mean, when our lives playout in “Facebook” and “Instagram” and “Twitter” I think that it shows how much society is more concerned with social media not “global” concerns.
Your point about people being absorbed in social media is a good one. It often seems to mean they aren’t taking in higher quality info sources as a result. For climate change, I really am puzzled why that splits on political lines. After all, the scientific method tells us cancer exists, and gives us possible ways to prevent or cure it, and I don’t see a Democrat/Republican divide on that science. So why the blue/red split on accepting the scientific evidence (of the same caliber) on climate change? For people who don’t believe in that science, why not? Where is this idea coming from that the science isn’t clear on that when it is? And it’s not exclusive to conservatives, to be sure; on the Democratic side, there are liberals who don’t believe in the science around vaccines, or GMOs. I can’t figure that out either.
Trump is your president, Liberals need to understand that they, like babies will not always get things their way. Clinton, (both Bill and HRC) are the most corrupt and dis honest politicians to ever campaign for office. Almost as bad as Obama. They play the main stream media like a puppet. Just look at the fake news they spit up about Trump and Russia, all of the unexplainable things they said President Trump has been proven innocent on. HRC is simply stirring the pot because she cant except the results. Something the tweeted about Trump couldn’t do when “he loses”. Investigations paid for by HRC while Obama illegally opened investigation on Trump to get political dirt. Kind of backfired for the liberals. Even today nearly a year after Trump won HRC is being found guilty of scandalous political events toward Trump.
Too bad your savior Obama is being brought to the spotlight and finally being noticed as the back stabbing snake he is. He divided this country more than any one in 8 years. Brought change all right. And the funny thing about Barrack Husain is that if you listen to his speeches when he was a young politician in IL, he said VERY SIMILAR things about sending ILLEGAL people back, securing the boarders and was in tune with Trumps ideas on national security. Obama, knew he would never get in office as a black man saying this, so he flopped just like the rapist Clinton (BIlly boy) and played a better tune for liberal votes. See modern day Marty Walsh
Trump 2020
Thank you for this comment. I’m sure what you say has much merit.