Simulating the Nuclear Threat in the Classroom

Abstract

It should not be surprising that freshmen students in an introductory political science course know little about the threat of nuclear war. Like a great percentage of the general public, they are unfamiliar with strategic options, weapons systems, technology, or even some of the ethical issues raised by the presence and possible use of such weapons. Some of these students tell me that they deliberately try to not think about such things because the realities are too horrible to contemplate. Others simply prefer to leave such matters to our leaders and “the experts” or, for whatever reason, are overwhelmed by the ennui which is a threat to any lecture session on any topic.One way around the pitfall of routine boredom which can affect any college course is to vary the menu of activities; and one of the best learning devices to supplement lecture and written materials, I have found, is simulation. Simulation brings some aspects of reality—decision-making, interactions, the perspective of sitting in a seat of power, and others—into the classroom without claiming that this supposed “slice of life” can replicate the real world in every detail. Some of the processes and institutions of government—Congress, juries, city councils, mediation of labor disputes, and others—lend themselves well to the simulation and gaming format.