fandomhigh | Ethics class, 2-4pm Monday afternoon

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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."

"Alright, everyone, time's up. Onto our second discussion topic - and remember, starting from next week this will be replaced by a formal debate.

Under what circumstances would you, personally, kill someone? Discuss hypothetical situations with your students, and add your final answer to your piece of paper. If you're inclined to say you wouldn't, ask the students around you to throw some hypothetical situations at you."

"If you're interested in applying for a TA position, put your name down here."

*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.

*mutters under breath*

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

[OOC: *giggles madly*]

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.

"Where I come from that's called a pre-emptive strike. Why did you choose to make the kill rather than run for it while they were drugged? For that matter, was there any reason you chose to slit their throat rather than killing with poison, which you obviously had the opportunity to do?" Tara does not look judgemental, merely curious.

I wouldn't have gotten away. They had horses, supplies, were well rested. I was on foot, had barely eaten or slept in days, all running would have done was leave me even weaker when they did catch up.

As far as the knife versus posion question goes, I only had a drug that resulted in sleep, if I'd had one that brought death I would have used that instead.

"Thank you for explaining that," Tara smiles. "It's a wonderful example."

"I have attempted to mail myself using the United States Postal Service. Transport of humans by the mail is strictly prohibited by Federal Law."

A smile plays at the corner of Tara's mouth ~~with a ball~~. "Is something evil just because it's against the law? And would you do it again, if circumstances repeated?"

Angela thinks about it for a few minutes.

"I don't know. Nothing that bad."

She taps a pen against her paper. "Um ... I eat meat. I can be kind of rotten to my mom and my sister. I lie. I drink alcohol, which I'm not sure anyone would say is evil, but it is kind of illegal. I've tried pot, which -- ditto."

More pen-tapping. "I think I would do all of it again, except maybe the stuff with my family. I don't like knowing I hurt someone who loves me, y'know?"

Tara smiles encouragingly. "We're not competing for who's done the worst things - your examples are fine. Eating meat is a good example - to some, that makes you a killer. Can we dwell on that one for a moment? Knowing that some people would condemn you for it, why do you eat meat?"

"I'm not sure. I mean, I guess for self-defense or in defense of a loved one, but ... it's not like I have so much physical strength that I'd really be much help in a situation like that."

"I killed a zombie, does that count?"

"I guess because I always have? And, like, my dad is a really good cook, and he always makes meat, and it's hard to turn him down."

"But every time I see one of those PETA displays, I start feeling really guilty about it," Angela adds sheepishly.

"I'm not looking for whether you could, Angela, only whether you would. What constitutes self-defence? Would it need to be in response to a direct threat to your life, in the heat of the moment? Or if you had warning in advance, could you kill someone with premeditation?"

She cocks her head, thinking about the zombie question. "Did you consider the zombie to be a person, with a life and desires of its own, and friends that would mourn its passing?"

Angela shakes her head. "Only if there was a direct threat right then. If I had advance warning, I would have time to go to the cops."

She chews on her pen thoughtfully. "I mean, I guess if I was in a situation like what Callisto described, where the police weren't an option and I couldn't run, I might feel that I had to. But ... there's 911 in my world, you know?"

"And the zombie wasn't a person to me. It was just this thing that wanted to hurt me or my friends."

::thinks:: I'm pretty sure it'd be harder to find somethin' I've done that *couldn't* be considered evil by *somebody*. I steal, I lie, I sleep around, I've killed, I've helped wanted criminals escape... ::shrugs:: I do what I need to to survive.

"Well done, Angela. You've found two situations where you'd kill someone - if it was their life or a loved one's, and when you don't believe the one you're killing is a person. Two questions to follow on from that, then. First, is the life of a loved one worth more than the life of a stranger - and would you kill to save a stranger's life? Second, what constitutes personhood?"

"So you're not sure whether it's right or wrong, but the force of habit overrides the need to think about it too deeply." Tara nods. "If you were raised in a culture where female circumcision was practiced, do you think you'd have the same response?"

"Alright, Chiana. A different question for you then. Is there such a thing as an unreservedly good act? Something that couldn't be considered evil by anybody?"

Angela stares at her shoes. Tara had warned that the class was challenging, but she didn't realize *how* challenging until right then. "I don't know," she says softly. "I mean, I hope not, because I like to think I'm braver than that."

"But ... realistically? I think I'm a product of my culture, like most people. So if my society did -- whatever -- I might find a way to be okay with it."

"I'm trying to stop myself from thinking that way, though."

Tara smiles softly at Angela. "That's right. As human beings, we very rarely question the things our society values. The surface things, yes. We debate politics, we disagree on religion. But the things that are ingrained to our cultural understandings we accept. It takes a lot of courage to live outside of society's norms." She pauses, assessing Angela's reaction. One more question to think about, Angela - and I don't want you to answer it now, I just want you to think about it - a vampire thinks of human beings the way most human beings think of cows. Shorter lived, clumsier, far less intelligent. How is a vampire killing human beings for food different than a butcher killing a cow?"

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Ethics class, 2-4pm Monday afternoon

First Hour

Second Hour

Teacher's Assistant

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