fandomhigh | 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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"The problem with that - and here Johnny might want to step in since it's his area of expertise, not mine, but the problem with that is with the mind we all have to agree their mind is not working properly," Angelus said. "Someone breaks a leg the leg is broken without a doubt. But if someone's too happy or too sad all the time - who are we to say it's wrong? Time was if a woman enjoyed sex she was considered insane. Now she's supposed to seek help if she doesn't like it enough. How do we know today's madman isn't tomorrow's trend-setter?"

Rory bites her lip. "That's very true," she finally acknowledges. "And scary as all hell."

"No kidding," Angelus said. "Nothing like knowing you're only sane because enough people agreed. Makes you wonder who those people are, and why did their vote on the subject count more than yours?"

"Exactly," Rory agrees. "I mean, who's to say that any of us are really, truly sane? We all have our quirks - who dictates that those are merely blips in our personalities, and not an indication of insanity?"

"Perspective adds a lot too," Angelus said. "Bet you anything it wasn't too long ago somebody would've called you nuts for saying vampires were real. Heck, a lot still would. Doesn't mean you're wrong and they're right."

Rory smiles wryly. "I went home to visit my grandparents this last weekend. Topics not included in the conversation were vampires, zombies, aliens, my doppleganger...to name a few. So, yeah, perspective is huge. Definitely part of the whole 'seeing is believing' thing."

"Which makes you wonder how many insane people now have only seen things that we haven't?" Angelus asked. "Joan of Arc sounds like a nutcase until you've gotten a message from the Powers yourself."

"Sort of like how people are so willing to toss Ritalin at any kid who moves around too much. People overdiagnose to make a preceived problem go away instead of actually trying to understand what the problem is."

"It's like the saying that when you have a hammer, everything's a nail," Angelus said. "If your mind is stuck in a world where any quirk is illnesss or any vampire is evil, you're probably not going to be inclined to understand it's not always the way."

The corner of Rory's mouth quirks up in a lopsided smile. "Precisely. And I have to admit, this school's helped a bit with that perception. I mean, using vampires as an example...because, where I'm from, fiction tends to portray them badly, a lot of people mistrust or are scared of your kind."

"But," she pauses, looking Angelus in the eye, "I've learned that you're just like the rest of us. Some good, and some are bad, and any preconceived notion of 'evilness' should just be dismissed."

"I only ask to be judged for myself," Angelus said with a smile. "It's like I was saying in Friday's class. There's plenty of evil that humanity has done, but it'd be a shame for me to look at all humans as the same because of it."

Rory nods, still smiling. "I agree. And I think it's that way for all the very, very diverse groups here. I think a lot of people are learning not to judge at all, because their lack of prior knowledge makes them look rather silly."

Ethics class, 2-4pm Monday afternoon

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