fandomhigh | Debating, Friday September 7

A good three minutes after the bell had rung, Mr. Noblet walked into the classroom. He took one look at the faces staring back at him, gave a smile, put his briefcase down on the desk, and left the room.

Screaming could be heard coming from the hall.
“I am not teaching those kids! I had some of them last time. Repeats! For God’s sake, please be reasonable! Aaaaaarrrgghhhh!”

A few moments later, Chuck stormed back in, red-faced and with a clenched jaw. “Hello, students. I see some new people here. And you have no idea how happy it makes me to see some fresh faces.” His jaw remained clenched, and though he tried to turn it into a smile, the effect was nothing short of disconcerting. “I am Mr. Noblet, and I will be your teacher for Debating class. If you’re here for another class, I suggest you leave and go find that room.”

He watched, a little hopeful. When nobody left, he gave a wracking sigh of disappointment, then moved away to write on the board.

Winning

He turned back around to face the class, tapping the word with his chalk. “When it comes down to it, that is what debating is all about. It’s not about progression of ideas both ways, it’s about letting your ideas progress by forcing them on someone else. If you let yourself consider, even for the slightest minute, that your opponent is correct, you’ve let your resolve waver, and you’ve already lost.”

"alking like this seemed to bolster the teacher’s spirits, and he went on. “In debating, determination is the key. You must be determined to make your opponent cave at all costs. Snide remarks, personal jibes, pulling in seemingly unrelated material and going off on tangents are a few things that we will discuss, as they are all great ways to trip up the other person.

"In this class, we will spend the majority of our classes learning debating techniques, and once a month we will have practical debates, sometimes on set topics, and sometimes on topics of your own choosing. I also hope to have you debate on your own time with other people, for grades and extra credit. With any luck, you’ll all know people who you’d like to convince that they’re wrong. Here, you can do it and get good grades for it. So, that, in general, is what we’ll be doing for this class.

"I am still in need of a TA, someone who would be willing to teach a class in the event that I am sick, be it physically or just plain tired of seeing your faces. If this duty is performed well, there may be extra credit involved. See me after class.

"Any questions?” He looked out at the students, trying to be simultaneously welcoming to the new ones and forbidding to those he knew.

OOC: ~~OCD up sooooon!~~ Halloa halloa halloa! Ready for class?

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Naminé noticed Valentine, and with a smile noticed that Valentine was taking notes.

She tore a small scrap of paper from her notepad and scribbled on it: You hardly need the encouragement, you know.

She placed it on his desk when she hoped their seemingly-unstable professor wasn't looking.

Valentine took the note and read it with something of a proud grin. If there was one thing he was proud of, it was his stubbornness. That was half the fun!

So, naturally, he flipped the paper over and wrote on the back: I think I shall take that as a compliment.

He grinned broadly and slipped the note back to her when the smart man up front wasn't paying attention. He hoped.

Naminé snickered lightly, reading the note, and then added her own two cents underneath.

Are you sure it was meant as one? Look upon your future, and be afraid!

She swallowed quickly and tried to keep a straight face as she handed the note back to him again.

It was all Valentine could do to not burst out laughing, but he certainly had an idiot grin on his face. Oop, note was running out of room. Stash the evidence and start on a new sheet!

Oh, I'm absolutely terrified! I suppose I shall have to take the encouragement that this class offers and go into the future with a bolstered stubbornness, just to survive!

He was biting his lip to keep from laughing as he handed her the sheet.

Naminé was trying to appear very, very serious. And failing miserably.

On the day when you finally repent of your pigheadedness? This will be the moment that you regret the most. When a kind soul warned you and you dismissed those concerns out of hand.

She nearly resisted the urge to add a frowny-face afterwards. Nearly. And then failed.

Valentine might have made a small snorting sound when he read that last note.

And so why are you in this class, hmm?

He had no trouble at all with putting a big, squiggly-headed smiley face on his note.

Chuck looked up from the chalkboard. Note senses were tingling. "I spy with my little eye..."

Chuck took half the classroom in two large steps (leaps), and snatched the note away as Valentine was finishing the smiley face.

"...DETENTION FODDER!"

He looked at the note. It was incomplete. He put out his hand. "The rest of the conversation, if you please."

Valentine swallowed. Oops, busted.

He rooted around in his coat and pulled out the other sheet of paper, an orange ball, a half-eaten chocolate bar, and a mostly-used pencil, and proceeded to sort the note out of it all.

"This really isn't what it looks like, I assure you."

Time to exercise his 'I am always right' theory.

Naminé wasn't certain if the teacher had noticed her as the one who'd passed the note to Valentine, but the dark red she was turning was probably enough of a clue. She cleared her throat. "We were debating, sir," she said, hoping it sounded more reasonable to his ears than to hers. "You told us that we should. We were taking the opportunity."

Wow. They complied right away. Chuck had been expecting fumbling over excuses or outright defiance, but the board-face started emptying his pockets right away, and the laughing (?) girl had a pretty good story. Completely fake, but he'd heard worse.

For a moment, Chuck Noblet felt something like respect for his students.

Then it was gone.

"Hand it over."

Valentine shrugged, picked a chewed wad of linty bubblegum off of the note, and handed it over.

"It really was a rather good debate, I think," he mused with a grin. "We were just about to get into how absolutely useful this class will be."

He was also full of shit.

and there was the sound of the other shoe dropping. Sarcasm. Chuck was almost happy to hear it. It absolved him of guilt for what he was about to do. He cleared his throat, moved away from the pair, and began to read.

"'You hardly need the encouragement, you know,' says the crayon girl. To which our plank-faced friend over here replied: 'I think I shall take that as a compliment.' Very cute.

Which was met with: 'Are you sure it was meant as one? Look upon your future, and be afraid!'

Then: 'Oh, I'm absolutely terrified! I suppose I shall have to take the encouragement that this class offers and go into the future with a bolstered stubbornness, just to survive!' Decent idea, but the reply was lacking:"

'On the day when you finally repent of your pigheadedness? This will be the moment that you regret the most. When a kind soul warned you and you dismissed those concerns out of hand.' I'd say that determination and pigheadedness are two very different ideas, wouldn't you?

We conclude with: 'And so why are you in this class, hmm?' For the two young lovers had their conversation so rudely interrupted." He sounded just astoundingly sympathetic. So in tune with the younger generation.

Chuck pocketed the notes. He'd throw them out later when the kids couldn't get them back. "Quite the affectionate display, but I think that the wooing is better suited for the privacy of your rooms. Go wild there. But in my classroom, romance is not tolerated. Detentions for you both." and with that, he began to fill out their detention forms.

Valentine shrugged and leaned back in his seat, still smiling. At least it had been a somewhat decent summary of the conversation.

And at least he hadn't been writing anything too terribly schmoopy in the notes.

Debating, Friday September 7

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