31_days | [September 23][Original] Ethics Homework

Title: Ethics Homework
Day/Theme: September 23 / the downside of amorality
Series: Original / Cruel To Be Kind
Character/Pairing: Annie
Rating: PG

“As some of you might remember, we had a very vivid discussion about morals last week,” Jim Lester started his lesson after the class has finally settled down. “I most certainly won’t ever forget it because it was one of the very few times almost the entire class actually participated.”

There were a few chuckles at this comment that Lester took as a hint that this sincere confession was met with amusement. He had been so excited about being a teacher, had thought he would be so much more efficient than his own teachers in their time only to be confronted with a group of disinterested teenagers in every single one of his classes.

“Anyway, I gave you an assignment about the impossibility of a functioning society without morality that a lot of you actually did hand in last Friday,” he went on, “and I graded it over the weekend. There were some very interesting points of view and I was very pleased to see the work of some students who have never contributed to the class in any way.”

In the last row, Annie who hadn’t really paid attention and instead reading the Cosmopolitan – her usual occupation during Ethics, a class she treated as recess – poked Jason who was sitting next to her in the ribs excitedly.

“He’s talking about me,” she whispered with a satisfied smile on her face.

His brown eyes widened, Jason stared at Annie in silence for a few seconds that he needed to process this most unexpected news. Annie was a notoriously bad student who somehow always barely managed to avoid failing classes, not only once having had to resort to using very revealing outfits to do so.

“I didn’t even know you were aware that this subject existed,” Jason finally reacted. “How the hell did you find out about the homework?”

“That guidance counselor woman told me some very boring stuff and insisted that I should at least make an effort, so I decided to do this homework after I looked at some options,” Annie explained dismissively before hushing Jason so she could pay attention to Mr. Lester. After all, she had to hear his praise for her homework.

“I was surprised by some of your very interesting and diverse arguments. But there was one paper in particular that caught my attention,” Lester went on. “It sets itself apart in many aspects, offering a unique perspective that I had not been familiar with before and that I find very … fascinating.”

“Do you think he’s talking about me?” Annie wanted to know. She was almost anxious now, having never paid attention to praise for an assignment in any class because she usually masterfully avoided doing them and so she knew that it didn’t concern her. In this case, however, there was a real opportunity of Mr. Lester referring to her work.

Although Jason highly doubted Annie’s ability to produce a paper worthy of note, he nodded, not wanting to discourage her.

However, Lester who had the habit of pacing around the classroom, came to a halt directly in front of the table Annie and Jason shared and looking directly at Annie, asked, “Would you mind if I shared your dissertation with the class?”

Annie, who had hoped against hopes that the praise had been directed toward her but had doubted it, was close to bursting with excitement. Still, he didn’t answer afraid that if she opened her mouth, a shriek would escape her which would not make a good impression with the rest of the class who were now listening. Just like Jason, they could not believe that Annie had actually done her homework and delivered exceptional results.

She clawed her fingernails into Jason’s forearm making him wince.

“I … I think she’s okay with you reading it,” Jason addressed Mr. Lester.

“Thanks, Annie,” the teacher smiled at her. He then walked back to the front where he took a single sheet of paper out of his folder, sat on the table and cleared his throat.

“I personally think that the proposed society without mortality wouldn’t work. I don’t know how it would even be achieved as the only possibilities I can think of would be vampires or some kind of magical potion.”

This was met with giggles and laughter from the class.

“I should have left the vampires out, I guess,” Annie told Jason in a low voice.

“But assuming that it were a possibility, many problems would arise in a society of people who never die. For one, the nursing homes would soon be overcrowded unless there was also a possibility to stop people from aging at a certain age which would of course be a huge blow to the cosmetic surgery and rejuvenating cosmetics industry.”

The students were now in a state between total disbelief and utter delight which Annie didn’t seem to notice; her brain filtering out everything but Mr. Lester reading her paper to everyone.

“There would not be a need for obituaries in newspapers anymore and wars would become a lot less dangerous because nobody would die although they might get hurt although I assume that if there is a way to eliminate death, some sort of on-the-spot healing must have been found as well. Our perception of death would change and it would end up being forgotten about which means that it would have to be replaced with some different way of writing characters out of soaps.”

By now, everyone had burst into uncontrollable bursts of laughter and Lester had to yell to drown out the noise.

“Also, if a person can’t die even if you shoot them or tear their hearts out like in “Temple of Doom”, wouldn’t that mean the dead people could come back to life? If so, what would probably make them zombies and I really wouldn’t want my great-aunt Thelma to come back to life.

“In conclusion, I would have to say that to decide exactly on how a society without mortality can work, I’d have to know the specifics, e.g. if I’d continue aging or not.”

After a second of hesitation, the class started to clap and Annie beamed around, proud of her work.

“What grade did Annie get for that?” Raymond asked.

Lester who had started handing out the others’ graded homework stopped for a second. “I wasn’t sure how to grade it. It is without a doubt one of the most entertaining reads I’ve had in my teaching career but then again, it wouldn’t fair to compare it to the other papers, so I decided that it would be the best to not grade it.”

Annie stared at him in indignation. “But you just said it was so good and different,” Annie protested. It wasn’t fair; for once she actually did her homework and then it wouldn’t even be graded?

“Well, Annie, I promise I won’t forget about this, okay? It has made a deep impact.” He winked at her. “And if you want to hand in a paper on a society without morality until next week, I will be happy to grade that.”

“Forget it. I’m not going through the trouble of doing the exact homework again.”

“Okay,” Lester sighed. “Then at least do me the favor of asking your English teacher to explain the difference between morality and mortality to you.”