Magical Ethics: Week 10, Period 1

[justagalegirl.livejournal.com]

Alysha's thoughts were still wandering around her conversation with Adrian the night before as the students came into the classroom. She already had a lesson plan, but as she opened her mouth to speak, a new discussion topic was decided upon.

"You're all of you special," she said. She made a little face. "I don't mean that in the special snowflake kind of way though I'm sure at least a few of you are that too." Alysha couldn't help thinking of David when she said that. "But all are you have talents, have skills that aren't always common in your societies."

"So here's a question I have. What's your responsibility when it comes to teaching these types of skills to others? Do you have a responsibility to pass on this knowledge that at least some of you have said can be so useful to your people? If your skills are unique, do you try to find someone that can learn them?

"Following on that - what's your responsibility as a teacher? If you pass on your knowledge, your magic and your student uses it to commit atrocities, or, whatever, just rob the Mini-Mart, do you bear any blame? Any responsibility for either choosing your student better or only teaching him what he could use ethically?"

Alysha glanced around the room, looking for questions. "Even if you feel your particular talents can't be taught to another, I'd like you to consider the question about teaching. It's not just magic that can bring up these issues. Whether you teach someone to shoot a gun or debate a point in the government, this question applies."

Library -- Tuesday

[death-of-hope.livejournal.com]

Yesterday had been the Ides of March, which was one of Anemone's favorite holidays. Because you had to like a day that was all about stabbing. And the day before had been Pi Day, and any excuse for pie was a good day. And she'd missed the 5th, which had apparently been Multiple Personality Day.

So today, Anemone had leftover pie in the library, with little action figures posed on top, stabbing each other. As well as information on the study tables about Freedom of Information Day, and she had busily set to work building a display about the holiday.

This was the wonder of the internet, where every day was a holiday, if you knew where to look.

Living With Difficult Women [Tuesday, Period 5]

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

As he walked into class, Max looked around at his students thoughtfully.

"We're now a little over two thirds of the way through this semester, which means that there are only a few classes after this one. I'm going to go ahead and give you your homework assignment for today now so that we don't have interrupt discussion for it later. I've tried to teach you all as much as I can on the subject of difficult women because living with them is important." Max grinned. "In large part because living without them is supremely boring. But in the short time we've had, there's just no way I can teach you everything there is to know on the subject. If there's a specific question or situation that you feel I haven't covered well enough, let me know. There are still a couple of weeks left and I can shift my plans around for the upcoming classes."

Max rolled his shoulder slightly to loosen them up. "And with that out of the way, let's get down to today's business."

"I hope you remember some of the discussions we had back at the beginning of the semester about how to deal with a difficult woman who is in a position of authority. If you need a refresher see me after class. Anyway, it turns out to be almost equally difficult to deal with such women when they are subordinates. Even when you're the one officially in charge, some people think they're the ones who should be because they so obviously know what you should be doing." And just because they were often right about that was no reason to let them take over.

"One of the reasons this situation is difficult is that many of the techniques that you can employ when under the authority of a difficult woman, a difficult woman can employ when under your authority. Subtle resistance, minor delays, careful suggestion and guidance. When you're in a hurry to get something done, all of these can be highly problematic the timely completion of your goals. That will be our topic for this week and the next."

Looking over his students once again, Max nodded to himself. "This week we'll be discussing people and situations in which this is a problem we have to deal with, as well as talking about the solutions we've found to be successful in the past. Next week, I'll suggest a couple of techniques which no one brings up today."

"The dynamics of power and authority are tricky at the best of times. Adding difficult women to the mix takes things from 'tricky' to 'perilous'. The situation is only made trickier by the fact that you usually don't want to simply dismiss them since in addition to difficult, they often tend to be highly competent. So, let's share. Hopefully we'll all learn something."

Monomyths [Tuesday, March 16, Period 3]

[steel-not-glass.livejournal.com]

When the students filed in, a single word was written on the blackboard: ( DEATH )

[OCD up]

Concepts of Justice and The Law [Period 4, Class #10, Mar 16]

[glasses-justice.livejournal.com]

( The Human Element (And How It Fails) )

DADA for Muggles [Wednesday, March 17]

[siriuslyscarred.livejournal.com]

Sirius and Remus were getting better at programming the Danger Room. Nothing was on fire, Sirius was only slightly miffed, and it had taken mere hours minutes to set up the scenario the students found themselves in--of an Irish forest with tiny green creatures wearing outfits fashioned of leaves giggling from their various hiding places.

"Since it is Saint Patrick's Day," Sirius said with a light smile on his face, "we thought we'd let you test your skills against some leprechauns from home. They are mischievous, not evil, but they will lead you on a merry chase if you'd like to capture any of their gold."

He pointed to the butterfly nets provided, stacked in a neat pile near Remus. He neglected to mention that any gold the students found would disappear within a few hours.

He smiled and clapped his hands together. "Good luck. Don't hurt them, and don't let them lead you down into bogs or anything where you could sprain your ankles."

[OOC: Remus modded with permission]