SCHOOL DAYS

As of early August, Pieter Judson, assistant professor of history at Pitzer College in Claremont, had notes, books and thoughts in order as he prepared to teach another semester of “Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union in the 20th Century.” But the Soviet coup attempt on Aug. 19 and the earthshaking events that followed forced Judson, and hundreds of other teachers, to make an abrupt change of direction. “I had planned to teach a history class that started with 1900,” Judson says. “Now we take 15 minutes of each session and discuss what happened over the last 48 hours. Every teacher I’ve talked with is scrambling.” Judson, 35, has made the daily newspaper required reading and has assumed the role of amateur cartographer. “All the maps are out of date. I’ve never had to teach a course this way.”

His course, which usually attracts about 15 students, drew 28 this semester, including a number of non-history majors. They expect Judson to give some form to the events. But, he says with a laugh, “if I make any predictions, they will probably be wrong. It wasn’t communism that drew me to studying Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union,” he says. “It was the incredibly bizarre history of these countries.”