fandomhigh | Ethics class, 2-4pm Monday afternoon

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ethics

Ethics class, 2-4pm Monday afternoon

Tara leans against her desk, smiling as she watches the students come in. Some of the faces she recognises, and gives a nod. The room is filled with soft, comfortable chairs, which are positioned in a circle. Each chair has a wooden insert in one arm, to lean on while writing, and each wooden insert has a blank piece of paper on it.

When everyone has taken their seats, Tara begins.

"The first rule of ethics class is that you do not talk about things that happen inside of ethics class. The second rule of ethics class is that you do not talk about things that happen inside of ethics class. Allow me to clarify: you may discuss your revelations, challenge your friends and mock the teacher all you like. But if anything said inside this class is ever used against another member of it, you will answer to me, personally. You will have the opportunity to explain yourself before I drag you before Principal Connor. This class cannot function if people are afraid to speak."

She looks around the classroom, stopping briefly on each face. "This school is very unusual. Yes, obviously the squid is a bit odd, but what's more interesting to me is that there are individuals sitting in this room" she nods to Angelus, "who identify themselves as evil. That, ladies and gentlemen, is what the first section of the course will be discussing. Evil, good, and what makes the difference between the two. Your evil classmates have perspectives you need to think about and consider. Don't ignore them in a mistaken belief that they have no ethics."

"Each class runs for two hours. Ordinarily this will be broken up into two sections: discussion and debate - today, however, there will be two discussion sections instead. The majority of your assessment will come through your involvement in class discussions. Every student is expected to participate every week. If you are painfully shy, write your thoughts down and hand them in to me. If I don't know what you're thinking, you don't get credit for it. After this week a formal debate will be held once a week. For those of you unfamiliar with debating, this means two teams of three students taking opposing sides on an issue determined by me. You will each be expected to debate three times during the term, with a week's notice to prepare for each one. If I don't get enough volunteers, I will volunteer someone. At the end of semester a practical exam will be held. This will assess not what you choose to do, but how accurately you have come to an understanding of your own ethical code. I expect you to be honest with yourselves."

"Friday and Monday classes are identical. Please feel free to switch between them if you have commitments that interfere with your regular attendance."

"I will want two teacher's assistants for this course, whose function it is to prompt discussion and challenge your thinking. These students will be expected to attend both Monday and Friday classes. Today's discussion will serve as your audition. TAs are expected to prompt discussion and challenge other students to analyse their own responses as well as the tasks expected of any other student. If you are interested, please say so on your paper, or see me after class."

[OOC: Class will be open for responses for the next week, for those who need to slowplay. For those of you who read Friday's class, this speech is not directly cribbed. That would be totally irresponsible. I made two changes.]

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"Here's your first challenge: I want you to identify something you have done in the course of your life that another person might consider to be evil. To clarify, as Friday's class had some trouble with this: I don't care whether you think it's evil or not. Try to look at your life experiences from the perspective of an animal rights activist, a member of the Christian Right, someone who lived five hundred years ago. Then, justify your actions, and identify whether you would make the same choice again given a similar situation. You do not have to share this with your fellow students. Throw ideas around, talk about what different people consider evil, and write your final answers down on your piece of paper."

*shrugs*

I've killed people, a lot of them. More than a few in what most people would have called cold blood. I don't feel any real shame about it, it just was something I had to do to survive. If I had to I would, and probably will, do it again.

"Usually killing to survive implies self defence, but you said you've killed in cold blood. Why was that necessary to your survival?"

Well, for example, most people would agree that slitting a persons throat as they slept would constitute cold-blooded murder, especially if the reason they were asleep was because you drugged them, but when you're thirteen and the throat in question belongs to someone much older, larger and stronger than you, who you know is going to kill you or worse if they get the chance, you don't really focus on what most people would think.

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