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

[atreideslioness]

 When the students came in this week, there was a passage from the eighth p'ien written on the chalk board.

 

There are roads which must not be followed,

armies which must be not attacked, towns which must

be besieged, positions which must not be contested,

commands of the sovereign which must not be obeyed.

 

"Sometimes, we must allow the distasteful thing to happen to make way for a greater victory." Ghanima was leaning against the wall, watching them from behind her glowing eyes. "Sacrifices must be made. This is most easily seen in war; sacking an innocent town for supplies, or killing civilians to prevent your position from being discovered."

 

"However, it doesn't just apply to physical combat." She pushed off the wall to pace between the rows of desks, looking at each of them. "What do you do when your boss, or 'sovereign' tells you to lie about something that happened at work? Or if reporting a crime implicates someone dear to you? Today, we discuss those choices, and how we know which battles must be fought, and which ones we must let pass us by. Sometimes it is a matter of personal conscience, while other times it is the good of one against well-being of the many."

Library, Monday

[intotheout]

It had been a quiet couple of weeks, and Tip's library shift looked like it was going to continue the trend -- at least until one of the picture books decided to throw a tantrum, setting off all of the other ones.

"Look," she tried to explain. "It's not our fault people almost never read you. This is a library in a high school. Most of us don't need picture books."

That only made them cry harder.

If anyone needed the library aide today, she was sitting in the kids' section, reading the picture books out loud to each other.

[open!]

Creative Writing- Monday- 3rd period

[justrealistic]

"Last week I gave you a lot. Did anyone actually finish it this week?" Daria asked. She assumed Paris had, but. "If you need a few more days, that's fine, but I'll expect it by next week, along with today's assignment. And today's assignment is... I want a short story, three pages or under, from the point of view of an animal. You can of course write from the perspective of the family dog, though you're all better than that and can be more creative. In fact, I'll give extra credit for creativity when it comes to which animal you pick."

Ethics, Monday

[saddeserthermit]

"Ethics are not often made, they are born, they are taught, in our very first years in this galaxy," Obi-Wan began. "Our ethical core depends on the circumstance and long-held beliefs of our ancestors."

Anakin nodded. "And because they are instilled from the first moments we can remember, we're often caught flat-footed when we run into people or species who are taught something quite different. And that's the root of many conflicts: the inability to understand that our own experiences are not universal experiences."

"Today, we wanted to see if we could perhaps begin a conversation," Obi-Wan said. "We wish to hear from all of you what your ethical background is - the rules you were taught when you were young."

"For all that we are both Jedi by training," Anakin said, "Master Kenobi and I started off in quite different places. The rules I grew up with were...somewhat contradictory--I had a mother to teach compassion, but I was also owned by a Hutt, then a Toydarian, and they valued my silence and ability to work for a very long time. Compassion was no part of either of those things."

"Whereas the Jedi who raised me thought highly of compassion, but less so of attachment," Obi-Wan said. "We were not supposed to get too close, lest it affect our judgment. My own teacher was a particularly severe example of this for many years." He bowed his head. "We would like to hear your stories - three things you were encouraged or discouraged about, ethically speaking, as a child."

Computer Science- Tuesday- 3rd period

[throughaphase]

Today the class was in the Danger Shop, but it looked just like the normal Danger Shop, with nothing set up.

"Last week I told you we weren't going to touch on ethics again, but then the news blew up and I figured screw that, we should probably go over some ethics, because the things you learn in this class could be rife with opportunities for abuse," Kitty said. "And while I don't think any of you would do that, it's better to have an open discussion about it than not to have it. So take a seat on the floor if you want, this is gonna be a talky class.

"This isn't about harassment and I don't want to say this is equal to that, but there's something to be learned about power, here, and respecting people, and looking at the consequences of your actions. The most important thing I might have to tell you is simple: just because you can do something doesn't mean you should," she went on. "Last week we figured out how to hack security systems in a town. Typically, you shouldn't do it because you have no reason to. You might get a reason. But then what do you consider a good reason to be able to spy on a community? What are the consequences of doing that? If you're hacking the systems for a public space, is it an invasion of privacy for your own personal gain?

"Back home, I worked at a school that has a room much like this." Well, technically she still worked there, but it was a different name now, and it was a whole big thing. "Over the years, the artificial intelligence was modified and worked on, fused with alien technology until it gained sentience and was trapped. Once that AI was free and took form, she chose a gender, she chose her own name, and she tried to kill us all because that was essentially what she'd been programmed to do until it all went out of control. The vast majority of us working there had no idea this was happening, and let me tell you, I think about that every time I step in that room, or even in this one. Recently in the news: sex robots. They give robots artificial intelligence and let them learn about you, and then you can do whatever you want with it. When you give something the ability to learn, but it's not actually a person, is that okay, or is it the creepiest ever? And does your opinion on that change after I told you about what happened with the Danger Room?

"I want to hear your thoughts," Kitty said. "If you have an opinion about anything I just said, or questions, get it out there. Or if there's anything else you want to talk about on the topic. And if there's something you'd rather not talk about in class, you're more than welcome to see me after. I'll kick the squirrels out and everything."