Final Ethics Class, Friday 8-10am

[brambless.livejournal.com]

"Over the course of this term, we've looked a lot at your personal moral stance on things. Today we're going to be looking more generally - on how morals are taught to children, often insidiously.

"A good medium for this is fairy tales. Every culture has them - stories that are told to children, bearing little moral gems to shape and guide. The first thing I want you to do is a select a fairy tale. Don't worry if it's not one I'll know, just pick one you're familiar with."

Comments

[brambless.livejournal.com]

Tara frowns in confusion. "Um, didn't Hansel and Gretl's parents take them out into the forest and leave them there to starve?"

She's a bit worried that the alternate universe thing that happens in Fandom means that Veronica's talking about an entirely different fairy tale.

[marsheadtilt.livejournal.com]

Veronica looks confused. "I thought the kids wandered off despite being told not to," she says. "But it's been a while, so I might be remembering wrong." She tilts her head in thought. "Then again, my dad might have told it wrong to get me to listen to him."

[brambless.livejournal.com]

Chuckling, Tara nods. "Alright, let's go with that version. Was it an effective means of teaching you morals? Did you go wandering off?"

[marsheadtilt.livejournal.com]

Veronica smiles. "Of course I did. I was a curious kid. But my dad always found me." She pauses. "Wait, does the story end with the father saving the children? Because that's how my dad told it to me."

[brambless.livejournal.com]

Still chuckling, Tara shakes her head. "Not the version I know. Hansel and Gretl save themselves - by pushing the witch into her own oven and killing her. And then they steal all of her money to get their parents out of poverty - the same parents who abandoned them in the woods to starve because they were too poor to feed them."

Wryly, she adds, "I think I like your father's version better."

[marsheadtilt.livejournal.com]

"Now I'm wondering if all the fairy tales I heard as a child were wrong," Veronica admits. "But I guess my dad had good intentions."

[brambless.livejournal.com]

"He sounds like a great dad," Tara replies softly. "I'd keep his versions, if I were you."

[marsheadtilt.livejournal.com]

"That he is," Veronica tells her with a soft smile.