The idea of being adversarial is a difficult one for me to parse. In thinking of Somnolent Samantha, I’m reminded of an earlier article I believe we read here where the instructor began thinking they knew what the students needed, then decided their students were all imbeciles, then decided some of them maybe are worthwhile, until finally the students teach the instructor the kind of class that is required for everyone to learn. Coming in with rigid expectations seems to be the best way to create an adversarial relationship with students, as we’ve seen in some of our teacher talk where students (often male, often in the math major) battle with their instructors (often women) to make them justify the students’ need to take the class.

Once a student sees the strings of ideology attached to their class (using Althusser’s definition of an ISA as an individuals imagined relationship to their actual existence), that student will naturally question the relationship that’s being imposed on them by the instructor—and oftentimes the student will assume an ideology is in place, even if the teacher is prepared to be open to changes in their curriculum and flexibility for the students’ sake. This is one way that an adversarial relationship can be formed negatively.

I do believe a certain kind of adversarial relationship can be helpful, especially when it is playful. One of my favorite teachers in high school, who I arranged my schedule so I could study with him for three years, would regularly throw things at students (usually erasers, no one was hurt). He would huff and puff about how kids shouldn’t “poke the bear” (he was quite hirsute), and anytime a student asked to use the bathroom he said “Yeah, but not here, it takes the wax off the floor.” This joking level of antagonism opened up a dialogue for this teacher to be critiqued by his students, and let that high school angst go to a place where it could be expressed positively without distracting from the class. This same teacher was kind to a fault in terms of homework forgiveness, allowing students to turn in absolutely everything in the last week of class if they hadn’t been keeping up with their assignments. He also was extremely kind, supporting students who were dealing with trauma at home or struggling with all the transitions that puberty brings. It is important to acknowledge that this instructor’s style of teaching would not work for everyone, and he is probably still working to improve it; still, it feels like a good example of an adversarial teacher student relationship.