Diplomacy, Relationships & Tactics: the Art of War [Monday, Period 1]

[atreideslioness]

Today when the students arrived the desks were gone in favor of Ghanima's preferred set-up of rugs, cushions, some divans, and large pillows, the classroom having been redone in Fremen-style for the rest of the semester. In the center of the room was a pile of small red books, one for each student to take and keep.

"Good morning," Ghanima said once the majority of the class seemed to be settled. "Welcome back, I'm glad to see I did not frighten any of you off. Today we are starting with the first chapter, 'Laying Plans.'"

"War." Ghanima surveyed them sharply, making sure she had everyone's full attention. "The term calls to mind battlefields and generals. The most successful battles, however, are not fought with soldiers, but behind closed doors with words. They are the battles you never hear about, because there is no glory to them."

"There is the war of the sexes, the war between companies and corporations, economic wars, ideological wars, political wars, and wars between the social classes, all of which tend to start on a more basic level, and escalate to the stereotype. Whether you are wooing a romantic partner or a business rival, or meeting an enemy with your weapon drawn, the same principals hold true."

"The Art of War." Picking up a well-loved red book from her desk, Ghanima flipped it open to her marked page and began reading. "The art of war, then, is governed by five constant factors, to be taken into account in one's deliberations when seeking to determine the conditions obtaining int he field. These are: One - The Moral Law. Two - Heaven. Three - Earth. Four - The Commander. Five - Method and Discipline." She snapped the book shut and placed it beside her.

"The Moral Law," she announced, hopping off her desk, "causes the people to be in complete accord with their ruler, so that they will follow him regardless of their lives, undismayed by any danger."

"Heaven and Earth are metaphors for the conditions you face, which is slightly more applicable to physical confrontations. However, if you view each type of terrain as a mental condition, you will have a large advantage over your opponent," Ghanima said briskly as she walked through the rows, hands gesturing as she spoke. "Heaven signifies night and day, cold and heat, times and seasons, whereas Earth comprises distances, great and small; danger and security; open ground and narrow passes; the chances of life and death."

"The Commander stands for the virtues of wisdom, sincerely, benevolence, courage and strictness."

"By method and discipline, it is to be understood that it means the marshaling of the army in its proper subdivisions, the graduations of rank among the officers, the maintenance of roads by which supplies may reach the army, and the control of military expenditure."

"These five heads should be familiar to every general," she recited, eyes glowing bright for a moment. "He who knows them will be victorious; he who knows them not will fail."

"Now, when you take these five factors, you must decide how to apply them. Luckily for us, Sun Tzu provided seven ways you can weigh them before making your decision."

"First, which of the two sovereigns is imbued with the Moral law? Who has the army and the populace behind them? Because without the support of your people, you cannot win." Ghanima turned to face all of them as she leaned against a wall. "I cannot stress that point enough. Even if it is simply your friends, or the other members of your company, you will win nothing without the support of your 'troops', if you will."

"The others are more basic; which of the two generals has most ability? With whom lie the advantages derived from Heaven and Earth? On which side is discipline most rigorously enforced? Which army is stronger? On which side are officers and men more highly trained? In which army is there the greater constancy both in reward and punishment?

"Now, I'd like you to pair up, and discuss which of the five constant factors you feel to be the most important, and why."

Library, Monday

[intotheout]

After her conversation with Breq at the party on Friday, Tip was looking up different Earth music styles during her shift today. She was pleased to learn that rock and roll was actually founded by a black woman, but got stuck for awhile looking up her boss's favorite music style, punk.

"Buncha white boys," she noted, flipping through and looking at pictures of unkempt musicians. She called up a couple songs on her phone for reference. "What did they even have to rebel against? Music theory?"

She found herself bopping along a little as the playlist went on. Alright. It was a little catchy.

She liked the songs from screamy girl bands especially.

[open!]

Ethics, Monday, September 4, 2017

[sith_happened]

"Hello again, everyone," Anakin began. "In order to study ethics, we must attempt to have a common vocabulary. Otherwise my stealing might be your culture's borrowing indefinitely and we'll be talking past each other for months."

"The language of ethics takes shape differently in every culture, but often roots itself in religion," Obi-Wan continued. "Such is the case for this world, and certainly for the culture within which this island nominally finds itself. The Abrahamic religions, as they are called, shaped a good deal of the history of this country, at least for the past few centuries. And they speak of ethics in some very simple, if definitive ways."

Anakin nodded. "They call seven common human failings the 'seven deadly sins': pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath, and sloth. They're considered--at least on this planet--to be abuses of our natural passions. So today you're going to pair up and discuss this list and decide which, if any, you think should be removed from the list, or if there's something that needs to be added."

"And perhaps contemplate why these particular 'sins' were singled out," Obi-Wan said. "Are these intrinsically and universally horrible qualities?"

Creative Writing- Monday- 3rd period

[justrealistic]

"Welcome back," said Daria, welcomingly. "Please hand in last week's assignments. If you didn't complete it in the last week... really? You had a week."

Just wait until someone told her they couldn't do their homework because they'd been fighting an alien threat in another dimension or whatever.

Actually, considering she was teaching Creative Writing, that would probably get extra credit whether it was true or not.

"This week I want a real story," she went on. "Your theme this week is detective. Come up with a main character, a case, and solve yourselves a mystery. If you really need a page limit-" Hi, Paris. "-it should be at least ten pages. If it takes you more to tell your story, then fine. If it takes you less, then good for you."

[Shhhh I forgot it was Monday. It's really like Sunday part 2.]

Computer Science- Tuesday- 3rd period

[throughaphase]

Today the class was back in the Danger Shop, and it looked suspiciously like a game show set, complete with podiums for each student, with their names written on them.

"Hello!" Kitty greeted them. "Before we get into the nitty gritty of this class, there's something very important we need to discuss first, and that is ethics!"

Confetti rained down from the ceiling at that word- and would anytime someone said "ethics"- because Kitty was a giant dork.

Brushing confetti out of her hair, she said, "We're going to cover some topics in this class that could be seen as iffy. Now you might assume that if you're one of the good guys, whatever you do is the right thing. But there's a lot of gray area there. Just because you have the power to do something doesn't mean you should, and you need to take the situation and consequences into consideration. I can get into some extremely high level systems. If I do, and I get caught, I'm still subject to a whole lot of federal charges, and probably a stint in a cushy prison." So, she made sure she never got caught. "Today you're getting a pop quiz. I'm going to give you some scenarios, and you can buzz in and give your answer and reasoning.

"Also, this isn't really a game show, and you can all buzz in, or buzz in to reply to each other or whatever. I just like buzzers."