11/11/11ish

Yesterday, I was trying to get my students to a deeper level of understanding about Reconstruction and the different viewpoints of it. One viewpoint was Lincoln's which called for the South to be forgiven and he wanted the US to move on after the Civil War ended. The other viewpoint is that of the Radical Republicans which called for the South to get punished for what they did, and forgiveness was not an option.

I talked a lot about how Lincoln was all about forgiveness, and I didn't think I was really getting the point across as to how much of an extreme idea this really was. How could you really forgive your enemy after you've fought for 4 years? So I asked the class, "How many of you, if you were in Lincoln's shoes, would forgive the South now that the Civil War has ended?" Just as I thought would happen, practically every hand in the class is raised. All of the kids swear they would forgive the South and then say that they wouldn't punish them.

So that's when I start to tell a story:

"I was talking to my friend from college the other day, just catching up and seeing how they've been doing. After talking for a while, we started to ask about our friends that graduated with us and if any news about them had happened. My friend told me how Danielle, our mutual friend, got engaged in April and is going to get married in about two weeks on 11/11/11."

- - - the kids start to get wrapped up in the story, some girls start to say how they think it's so cute getting married on 11/11/11 and how good luck that is and everything like that - - -

"So wedding is all planned out, a lot of the stuff has already been paid for, bought the dress and everything. Well, my friend just told me over the phone that last week, Danielle found out her fiancee has been cheating on her."

- - - at this point a giant gasp that goes through the room - - -

"I think it's ridiculous, she totally shouldn't marry the guy now. I think she should call it off. Well apparently Danielle has decided to keep going as planned. She figured she's already paid for everything, it's just over two weeks away, people have bought plane tickets, and all that stuff. She said that she'll just marry him like it was originally intended and they'll figure out their problems after the wedding and move on from there. I think this is crazy, what do you all [students] think about this? Is she insane? I'm asking you because I want to see if I'm being ridiculous for feeling this way."

- - - now the students start to chime in, girls are calling for him to dump him, someone else calls for some sort of physical altercation, one girl even says that Danielle should marry him and then divorce him right away so she can get half of all his stuff - - -

So I ask the class, how many would forgive the guy? How many would go along with the wedding as planned? No one raised their hands. When I ask if she should dump him and if he should get punished in some way, every hand emphatically shoots up in the air.

I ask them, "is she ridiculous to think that they should get married and move on and be a couple and figure out the problems later?" Everyone dramatically nods their heads, "so do you now see how extreme and radical Abraham Lincoln really was that he would want to forgive the South?"

At this point people start to get angry, "what do you mean that was all made up!?" "you lied to us! do you even have a friend named Danielle, was anything in that story real?" One girl says that she was unhappy with the ending of the story and wanted me to make it a happy ending that makes everything better, she claimed she really got into it and was upset it wasn't real.

But the students got the point, they realized Lincoln was extreme for his forgiveness and the Radical Republicans weren't even that radical because their viewpoint was that of human nature.

In any case, my kids probably don't trust me anymore.