fandomhigh | Ethics [Tuesday, January 6, 2nd period]

Anakin walked into his classroom precisely on time and gave the students assembled there an appraising glance as the door clicked shut behind him. If you were late, you weren't getting in. "I'm Master Skywalker," he said in a voice that was intended to carry, "this is Ethics, and we're going to skip the introductions--I'll figure out who you are--and move straight to our first discussion."

He paced around the room, cloak flaring out behind him, as he handed out the syllabus. "Today's topic," he said. "Self sacrifice: knowing the difference between saving people and being a pretentious twit."

"Any time I ask a a group of people what they would do to save someone they love, they all blither on about how they would set the world on fire, lie, cheat, steal, kill, die, et cetera, et cetera. I've been at this school too long to believe that half of you haven't already been put into this situation and I'm in no mood to hear adolescent ramblings about how wonderful you were or might hypothetically be. We're going to ground it in reality.

"Last summer there was a woman who was in charge of this school. She had been placed in power legitimately, was allowed to punish in accordance with that power, and began pushing the boundaries of her authority almost immediately. She called students to her office, punished them for slights genuine or imagined, and began escalating the severity and frequency of her punishments, going over the line into what was no longer acceptable."

Anakin crossed his arms over his chest, the scars across his face very evident in the light coming through the window. "It eventually took a team of highly qualified adults to take her out. Today's topic: when do you draw the line? When do you admit to yourself that a problem cannot be solved, that to sacrifice yourself isn't a statement, it's merely pointless? How long does it take for you to realize you can't fix everything by yourself?"

He would hear the replies and choose his TAs from there.

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"I'm Fremen," Leto replied, "from the planet of Arrakis. I am also an Atreides."

"Like Lady Ghanima," Anakin said.

Edited 2009-01-06 20:49 (UTC)

Leto smiled. "She is my twin sister. I didn't expect her to be here."

"Different timelines or different realities?" Anakin asked. "I've experienced both."

Not exactly true.

"I have a son who's twenty and grandchildren who are 18 and 14." He smirked. "I'm not exactly old enough for any of that."

"She is from my future. It must be all my fault, since apparently I am not amusing, but of course, to stop paradoxes from occurring she will say nothing more." Leto couldn't quite hold back his own amusement.

Anakin smiled. "Of course," he said. "Paradoxes are such a pain."

"You have experiences with them?" Leto asked. "But I will not press Ghani with questions, as her presence here is more important to me than the actual reason behind it. I am sure I had a reason."

"I taught my teacher's teacher for a semester," Anakin said. "It was enough to give me a headache."

Leto grinned. "This place seems good at offering people challenges. Have you met my sister?"

"Only in staff meetings," Anakin admitted.

Leto gave a small nod. "My previous education has been the responsibility of my stepmother, Irulan Corrino, who was a student here once. Philosophy, ethics, religion and the examples set to us by history where things she found important."

"I taught her as well," Anakin said. "It sounds like your family and mine have a few things in common."

"A fondness for paradoxes?" Leto said.

"And a need to not do things the easy way," Anakin said.

"Is there often a choice to do things the easy way?" Leto asked.

"Apparently other people get those," Anakin said with a small smile. "I've never seen one."

"I can't recall seeing one either," Leto replied, looking thoughtful. Then he grinned. "I would hate to think that I'm just not paying attention."

Anakin grinned back. "Me either."

Leto decided that he quite liked professor Skywalker, and considered this choice of class a good one.

Ethics [Tuesday, January 6, 2nd period]

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