An American colleague is teaching in Germany this year as a visiting scholar. She decided to talk to students about the refugees (although her field is in no way related) and get them together to volunteer some help.
The students’ reaction was unexpectedly negative. This colleague has a tendency to exaggerate, so I’m not sure whether the students really “behaved like total Nazis”, but they were definitely not too happy about her lecture and suggestions.
Clarissa's Blog 
If your colleague’s teaching field is in no way related to the refugee situation, is it appropriate for her to use her authority position to try to get her students to “volunteer some help”?
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That’s precisely the point the students made. Her knowledge of the subject of refugees is honestly not that sophisticated. And students always know when you speak from knowledge or ignorance.
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Your colleague doesn’t know much about Germans. They tend to be on-task and like to maintain clear boundaries, so of course they resented her going off topic during class time. They would have resented it and called her out if she spent ten minutes talking about puppies and rainbows if that had nothing to do with the class.
And by American standards, Germans are usually total assholes as students because German teachers are encouraged in their pedagogical training to reward students who openly challenge the teacher. When I was a student in Germany, I regularly saw otherwise nice people become argumentative jerks the minute they stepped into a classroom, because that’s what good students do.
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“When I was a student in Germany, I regularly saw otherwise nice people become argumentative jerks the minute they stepped into a classroom, because that’s what good students do.”
That’s exactly the kind of student I was. 🙂 And now I’m this kind of colleague.
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\ That’s exactly the kind of student I was.
How should school teachers react to such students? Suppose it’s a math lesson, what is there to be argumentative about? I am unsure how argumentative looks like, but even thinking about it makes me tired and thinking about the lost time. May be, I haven’t understood everything correctly. A teacher has to teach everybody X material in Y time and time is too precious to waste on empty arguments.
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How should they react?? Thank God for this wonderful gift, of course. That student will make their job enormously easier. We are all praying for such a student because s/he changes the class dynamic from a monologue to a dialogue, and that’s priceless.
What can be better than an engaged, interested, passionate, questioning student?
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Could you clarify what “behaving like total Nazis” entails? I am very curious now. Because pointing out at her inappropriate use of authority is not that, imo. Her behavior would still be completely inappropriate (if I understood correctly your vague description of what she tried to do), no matter how much sophisticated knowledge she would have.
One of my former professors mentioned once he volunteered to help (probably illegal) Sudanese (?) refugees in Israel during a lecture. But he never thought to begin organizing me and other students into anything. It is OK to mention you do X at Y organization and that if somebody is interested s/he can ask you after class, but not more than that.
And why should Germans be expected to be happy about millions pouring into their nation state and desire to be helpful to them? Israel does a lot to minimize numbers of refugees. German politicians decided on the opposite course, but German public was not asked to vote on the issue and is close to Israeli one in their views, as people everywhere tend to be. Your friend would have called me a “total Nazi” too, I bet.
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It seems like the students had a much less joyful reaction to the refugees than the colleague. She’s going back to Missouri in a few months, so it’s easy for her to have such a rosy view. The students are staying in Germany. For now, at least.
I’m not deeply supportive of what she tried to do because people who arrive 5 minutes ago and begin to lecture locals on how to behave without learning about the situation in a profound way evoke nothing but resentment.
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\ about her lecture and suggestions
Interesting what she suggested they do together, if it’s not a secret.
In general, I would be very interested to read what really is going on in Germany, f.e. among university students, if you get more info from your friend and can post it.
Now thought that if the lecture was long, I would be unhappy about the waste of class time on unrelated matters. Her students surely thought about that too.
And last, I am surprised she was surprised at their reactions. Has she believed in a few articles and speeches talking about Germany welcoming refugees? (There are many articles of another kind, as we know.) Based on what I read and know of life, I would expect Germans to react with aggression just after hearing the word “refugee.”
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Read that now and immediately thought about Lara Logan’s gang rape and about this post:
Something pretty amazing happened in Cologne on New Year’s Eve. Dozens of women were robbed and sexually assaulted, one apparently also raped — in public. In fact, in front of one of the top tourist destinations in the world, the Cathedral of Cologne. And the police claim they were totally unaware of this mass sexual assault until days later, when women began filing reports.
…
The idea that mass gang sexual violence could happen in open, in public, in front of one of Germany’s top tourist destinations is sending shock waves through Germany.
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Anyone with any familiarity with the Arab world will immediately recognize this form of gang sex attack — it happens frequently in Arab cities. Countless women have been gang-raped in Tahrir Square in Cairo
http://www.germanimmigration.eu/2016/01/arab-street-urchins-sexually-assault-dozens-of-women-in-cologne.html
In Israel some people I talked with think it’s too dangerous to go to Germany as an Israeli Jewish tourist, now when all refugees and criminals from all Europe are there. Judging by this case, they may be right. 😦
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Lord Jesus. Every time I think, “European feminists will have to wake up now!” And every time I’m wrong. Every time.
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Found an article in English which included a victim’s description of what happened:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3384423/German-police-hunt-group-1-000-men-Arab-North-African-origin-sexually-assaulted-numerous-women-threw-fireworks-crowds-Cologne-train-station-New-Year-s-Eve.html
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