Practical Philosophy, Monday

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Ender had gotten into the habit of teaching outside in any circumstance but all out rain (or frost, but that was unlikely in summer). He checked outside whether or not it would be tending towards the rumored storms any time soon, but having noted the all clear, he posted a note on his designated classroom's door pointing all the students towards the dorm lawn.

He sat down on the grass out there, legs folded. By his side was a bag full of sandwiches, just in case any student had missed breakfast. And there he waited, quiet and patient, until everyone had arrived.


"So I didn't bring any books, and I didn't make a reading list either," he said, once they had. "Because despite what the title of this class might imply, I'm not actually here to tell you about Hegel or Kant and what they were thinking. They might come up, but if they do, it's because they have had interesting ideas that might be useful to us."

He stretched his legs out. "I'm Andrew Wiggin, though some people call me Ender," he said, "And I don't bring books here because I don't think they have all that many answers. Neither do I, for that matter. I have, however, been gifted with a boundless supply of questions, and that's no terrible thing. You can keep asking questions as the situation changes - answers tend to be the same thing no matter when you check up on them."

He smiled wryly.

"This class is about questions," he said. "And it's about having a conversation through those questions. Everyone here has sat through something in their life that they feel the need to question - though whether they want to admit that is another thing entirely. We're here to talk about those questions as they come up. No more, no less."

He shot Cade a wry look. "That still means I expect all of you to participate," he said. "You don't have to share about yourself if you absolutely don't want to. If you don't want to talk about something, you're free to say so, and if you want to talk to me about it outside of class, that's fine too. But I expect you to talk along. If you don't, I'm not going to apologize for the kinds of questions I'll ask. While we're at it, I also won't tolerate shaming anyone in this class for any reason."

Having said that, though, Ender's mouth quirked up. "Enough with the threats," he said. "I don't believe in classic introductions - I think I know what most of your names are, and I'll learn the ones that I don't, and what year you're in is of absolutely no concern to me."

"Let's open a dialogue instead," he finished. "For some of you, this is all new. How is it working for you? Are you elated? Annoyed? Don't want to be here? Achingly happy to be here? And for those of you who aren't - how has the past year treated you? Has there been anything that made you cry or made you think or made you wonder?"

"We can talk about that. Or we can talk about something else. I'm open to talking about anything, as long as you think it's worth questioning. Because you can assume from here on in that I really don't know a thing; but maybe by educating me, you can find something worth educating yourself about."

He paused, then pointed towards one of the boys. "Sparkle is my teaching assistant, by the way," he said. "Feel free to test his propensity for questions. He's got his own brand."

Comments

Sign In!

[endsthegame]

Like you're outside and it's overcast.

Re: Sign In!

[makemyownway.livejournal.com]

Cade

Re: Sign In!

[flickofthewrist]

Flick

Students!

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Because I forgot to put in a pre-lecture OCD, whoops.

Students! - Before Class

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Gather on the grass, chat without having to deal with your teacher.

Re: Students! - Before Class

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy felt kind of out of place, wearing her old school uniform and carrying a backpack full of school supplies. Good good. Fast on her way to being labeled a nerd without even trying.

...And then she caught sight of some of her fellow students and promptly forgot about being a dork.

Ohshitisthatarealalien?Omgomgomgomg.

Students! - Listen to the Lecture

[endsthegame]

Or eat sandwiches, or lounge.

Re: Students! - Listen to the Lecture

[makemyownway.livejournal.com]

Cade was going to eat sandwiches while cursing his Uncle Bantha loudly in his head.

He didn't want to take this course again.

Re: Students! - Listen to the Lecture

[flickofthewrist]

Flick wasn't happy. It wasn't because he was still wearing the same clothes he'd showed up in and it wasn't because Jude still hadn't made an appearance. He'd deal with those later. Somehow.

No, it was because apparently his father had signed him up for classes thinking he was hilarious and it pissed Flick off even more than he normally tended to be.

It was his own fault for not checking these things before letting his father drive off in his expensive car but he'd been scared and desperate so now he was stuck.

Flick was rubbing a hand over the spot where the tracker was embedded in his skin while he half listened to the lecture. There was something else to worry about.

Re: Students! - Listen to the Lecture

[arsenicmauls]

Gert wasn't sure what to think of this guy. The words taken by themselves sounded kind of pretentious, but something about his demeanor seemed sincere, and she felt oddly inclined to not dismiss him offhand like she did most of her teachers.

Talk.

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Feel free to make it messy. What questions do you have? What answers?

Re: Talk.

[makemyownway.livejournal.com]

"Oh, you know," Cade said dryly. "Every day is summer when your heart is full of joy."

Jackass.

Re: Talk.

[endsthegame]

... Oh, Cade. Your Wiggin was showing.

"Usually when I said that, my sister would inform me I'm full of shit," Ender said lightly.

Re: Talk.

[myownface]

"... Damn, I need to remember that one," Sparkle decided. "I mean. Not like my heart is full of joy, but it probably works both ways, right? If I'm miserable enough, think we can kick this freakin' heatwave?"

Re: Talk.

[notacokeperson.livejournal.com]

Decisions, decisions, a real question or something that wasn't so much a question as her being a pain in the ass?

Okay, so that wasn't really a difficult choice.

"Why Sparkle for TA?" Karina asked promptly.

She liked Sparkle well enough, and Karina didn't want to be TA, not ever, because that with her schedule would be like shooting herself in the foot, but resisting that question was... not happening.

Re: Talk.

[myownface]

Sparkle couldn't resist leaping on this one, no.

"Because this is a class about talking to one another, and I've got a big mouth," he answered, smirking. "You wanna deny that one?"

Go on and try!

Re: Talk.

[myownface]

"Two jobs and another TAship at the school," Sparkle mused, idly picking at the grass. "You know I'm still wondering if everyone around here is cracked or something for giving me all of this responsibility."

And yet, he hadn't exactly done anything to break the trust of any of his employers, either. And was fiercely proud of the fact that he was working at all. And had even helped to teach a class for half a semester at one point when the original teacher couldn't stick around.

Not responsible at all, this kid.

Re: Talk.

[flickofthewrist]

Flick had a lot of questions but they weren't going to be answered here. So, he sure as hell wasn't going to bring them up. Not if he could help it.

"Ambivalent," he said in response to the question that had been asked. "I haven't been here long enough to decide which side I fall on. I'll stay in the middle for the now, straddling the fence."

Re: Talk.

[arsenicmauls]

How had the past year been going? There were a ton of ways to answer that.

"Well, I turned sixteen the other day," Gert said, "which a few months ago I had no idea whether I'd get to do. So I'm obviously surviving."

Re: Talk.

[spin_kick_snap]

"I was really excited for the opportunity when I got the brochure," Kathy said, figuring that she might as well brand herself a nerd up front. Everyone else in the class seemed too cool to be excited for school. "But now that I got here...it's not at all what I'd expected it to be."

What with talks of multiple worlds and aliens and ponies that were bright pink.

Talk to the TA

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He'd probably love to respond.

Re: Talk to the TA

[myownface]

Oh god, would Sparkle ever? He was sitting on the grass with a grin on his face.

'Got his own brand' was possibly the most glowing sort of praise he could possibly hope for. At least, it was in his mind, which was close enough.

Bring it.

Talk to Ender

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If you want to speak to him after class.

OOC

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1) Please note that if you talk during the lecture, Ender will probably call attention to it.
2) Due to a mix of wrecked laptop and having to do some video editing today, I might be slow. Sorry!

Re: OOC

[endsthegame]

Aaand twelve hours later I've managed to secure some of my important files, then accidentally removed the recovery screen from start-up. So this is going well.

Sorry about the intense SP.