Is that in the syllabus?

When I was first hired as a professor, the department told me to plan on teaching a 2-2-1 schedule. Two classes in fall, two in winter, and one during the spring/summer terms. I planned out my year accordingly.

Then towards the middle of winter semester, the dept. secretary told me they'd made a mistake, and that I was required to teach an extra course during spring/summer, making it a 2-2-2. Panic-stricken, I looked through my graduate school notes and tried to figure out how to invent a new course in a few weeks.

One of my fields for the preliminary exams at Wisconsin was 'Authoritarianism in Southeast Asia." So, I took many of those reading selections and slammed them into a seminar style course. Hoping to boost enrollment I even gave it what I thought to be a sexy title, "Dictatorship and Genocide in Southeast Asia." Six students found the morbid topic interesting enough to sign up, and this was more than enough to carry the class.

Because I didn't have the time or the knowledge to write thirty-five hours worth of lectures, I made the course discussion-based. As part of their grade, each of the students are responsible for presenting one set of readings and leading the discussion. We explore theoretical conceptions of power in Asia, the vulnerabilities of democracy, US foreign policy, and the natures of genocide, among other topics. For Friday's class we were exploring the book, "To Destroy You is No Loss," a fascinating first-person account of life under the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia.

Unfortunately, the student leading the discussion did not have the strongest presentation skills. He's uncomfortable in group situations, doesn't articulate well, and hates to have attention focused solely on himself. It's a lot like having Piglet in class. Everytime I ask him a direct question he begins with..."Oh, d-d-d-dear me...." He's so awkward it's almost charming.

As part of his introduction I asked him to generate a discussion explaining the difference between authoritarianism and totalitarianism. The students were using the terms interchangeably, even though they're quite different. Even though I had prepped him the day before, poor Piglet still managed to botch it.

He went up to the white board in front of the class, shaking like a young sapling on a blustery day, and drew two interlocking circles. I can only guess he meant to show how the two systems of government were similar, yet distinct simultaneously. Then he proceeded to label them, but because he was so nervous he didn't want to risk spelling one or both terms wrong. So, he abbreviated, writing only the first word for each system above the circles.

The he turned to the class with his voice quivering and stammered, "Okay...let's begin today by talking about T&A...."