We Shall Now Begin Ethics - Vol. 2 Ch. 6 - A Face I Want to See

[MasterPannya]

What a dick.
Well at least, they're smoking buddies.

 

[Letheliah]

Oof what a chapter. It's definitely a personal failing of the author/Takayanagi to ignore the biggest reason why a student/teacher relationship is problematic, that being the power imbalance between the two parties that is often abused by the teacher.

But also that snappy comeback with the Socrates quote and how she's a beauty that is in much need of better behaviour was pretty good as philosophical burns go.

Still, I can't help but shake that maybe the author doesn't much like women, if not people in general. Takayanagi and the content is quite complex, but how each character and premise is initially set up and framed isn't in a positive light, and repeatedly makes them seem lacking unlike Takayanagi.

 

[Ekfreet]

I hate myself. No, I hate you all. Emotions and human instincts are the things I hate the most.

 

[InfiniteVerisimilitude]

Yeah, the power imbalance is a major reason it is a big no-no.

Heck, at least the idea of strong positive consent is a core part of the manga.

 

[DANDAN_THE_DANDAN]

Please don't release that girl into society without fixing her first

@Letheliah the author is a woman lol

 

[nerevars]

A lot of comment didn't like the author/Takayanagi sensei act. He did a good job.

 

[kuma]

@DANDAN_THE_DANDAN just like you can't arrest a people who doing money gambling scheme until some people do actually get schemed, the same can apply here. too few proof that can rebuked easily. and the best thing teacher could do is tell them what not to do. since teacher is not student parents.

 

[DANDAN_THE_DANDAN]

@kuma What's the point of a teacher if not to teach? Yeah that's a parent's job but clearly the parent isn't doing their job. Your example is like comparing apples to oranges; this is about fixing that girl's behaviour, not laws and loopholes. I'm 100% sure she's gonna grow up screwed in the head if no one's putting her in place. This is basically that JayStation scenario where if she's not punished, she's gonna keep being a waste of space since she thinks that her actions will not have consequences.

 

[Deathhappens]

Yeah, Physics teacher definitely needs a beer right about now.

 

[tppcrpg]

Nothing wrong with power imbalance.

 

[Ariamcon]

This honestly a good chapter, idk why is someone complaining about it

 

[sealand]

I dislike this chapter because the ethics teacher ignored the most problematic part of a student teacher relationship. There is power and maturity imbalance between the two because one of them is a literal child and is therefore in a vulnerable position while the other is a fully grown adult in a position of authority. The student could be easily manipulated and abused by the teacher as a result.

 

[meyounmycat]

Well, the author missed a point of power dynamics between teacher n student but most points were made !

 

[JOJO_JOSEPH]

I liked this chapter too!

So, my opinion is that the power dynamics between teacher and student is different in some situations.

In this chapter's case, the physics teacher has minimal power over his students. Through his actions, we see he's not the kind of person to use his authority to abuse students. He has no intimate human relationships in his personal life. He was bullied in class; girls think he's "disgusting." Some students might still respect him as a teacher so that he might appear as a power figure in those student's eyes. But not the case with the MC girl. She has zero respect for him, and she can take away his career, ruin his life so easily if she succeeded in framing him. So I don't see the point in discussing power dynamics between teacher and student here because it's the other way around.

Some teachers are being bullied by students, and they have very little power to get out of the situation. It's sad.

 

[bunbun11]

I agree with some others in that I think other ethical questions that come up involving teacher-student relationships are missing in this chapter. This one just didn't have the depth that other chapters had imo. A bit of a disappointing start for Volume 2 for me but still quite enjoyable.

 

[Goyal99Raj]

I uh wow I'm dropping this manga. There are a lot more issues with the situation that were never addressed or brushed off.

[ol]The girl is literally trying to get teachers she dislikes fired and shunned from society. That's not okay from any perspective and can ruin lives. Plus genuine teacher-student grooming cases are dismissed by this kind of behavior: "the student was baiting me into it. She's a sl*t"[/ol]
[ol]There are a lot more problems with teacher-student relationships than that. A teacher holds power over a child's grades and academic well-being. Any romantic relationship between them has a severe power imbalance, and the teacher could be soliciting sexual/romantic favors while holding their academic performance as collateral.[/ol]
[ol]Also there's the fact that teenagers are biologically less mature than adults. In many real life cases, children had no clue they were being sexually-molested because they lacked the basic understanding of what sex actually is. Moreover, even with basic knowledge of what sex is and what behaviors require consent (i.e. what behaviors are sexual), there are many real life cases where teachers exploited their students' lack of maturity to groom them into accepting sexual behaviors as natural. Emotional manipulation is also incredibly common.[/ol]

I really can't take this series seriously when it just ignores these huge concerns. The fact that the Takayanagi Sensei makes it very clear that verbal consent is necessary for sexual acts is very very important, but honestly that should just be the baseline for a series that delves into these kinds of topics.

 

[maximil_l]

Personally, Takayanagi did outline the main problem with a teacher-student relationship. He only worded it out as "Child Welfare Law" or "School Policy". With that said, I think it's understood for all of us that those laws/policies Takayanagi mentioned addresses the main issue of "power imbalance" and the difference in maturity between adults and teenagers, which is why Takayanagi told the Physics Professor to hide his feelings until graduation so legally, they won't be bound to a "teacher-student" relationship, and morally, the 'student' would have grown to some degree. At this point, how large the age gap could be depends on culture, and what is acceptable in Japan is not acceptable in other countries.

(Edit) Of course, teachers should prioritize the education of their students. At this point I'm just interpreting the story in my own way, but Takayanagi did not do anything significant against MC girl precisely because he believes that the MC girl can still be educated. A teacher who easily gives up on his/her students is not a good teacher at all.

*We should also not forget that this is of course a story written by an author, which means that the circumstances are explicitly created and we know the truth which was that the MC girl had acted out in malice/immaturity, while the Physics Teacher, despite being an adult, is immature when it comes to relationships, setting up a situation where the teacher is the victim while the student is the aggressor. (End of Edit)

And if sometimes you might find the actions taken as disagreeable, well, ethics and moral philosophy exist so we could discuss about it. As one who just started reading this manga, I sincerely hope that other/future readers won't drop this manga too easily simply because some things weren't explicitly said when the topic/themes the manga is taking on is just too ambiguous/vague to explain in just one chapter.

tl;dr it was a nice chapter for me

 

[AngelHQ]

Personally, Takayanagi did outline the main problem with a teacher-student relationship. He only worded it out as "Child Welfare Law" or "School Policy". With that said, I think it's understood for all of us that those laws/policies Takayanagi mentioned addresses the main issue of "power imbalance" and the difference in maturity between adults and teenagers, which is why Takayanagi told the Physics Professor to hide his feelings until graduation so legally, they won't be bound to a "teacher-student" relationship, and morally, the 'student' would have grown to some degree. At this point, how large the age gap could be depends on culture, and what is acceptable in Japan is not acceptable in other countries.

(Edit) Of course, teachers should prioritize the education of their students. At this point I'm just interpreting the story in my own way, but Takayanagi did not do anything significant against MC girl precisely because he believes that the MC girl can still be educated. A teacher who easily gives up on his/her students is not a good teacher at all.

*We should also not forget that this is of course a story written by an author, which means that the circumstances are explicitly created and we know the truth which was that the MC girl had acted out in malice/immaturity, while the Physics Teacher, despite being an adult, is immature when it comes to relationships, setting up a situation where the teacher is the victim while the student is the aggressor. (End of Edit)

And if sometimes you might find the actions taken as disagreeable, well, ethics and moral philosophy exist so we could discuss about it. As one who just started reading this manga, I sincerely hope that other/future readers won't drop this manga too easily simply because some things weren't explicitly said when the topic/themes the manga is taking on is just too ambiguous/vague to explain in just one chapter.

tl;dr it was a nice chapter for me

I think you have the best take for this chapter on the whole thread, thank you for your insights.

 

[bahamutmybitch]

Wow, they did the phys teach wrong by highlighting him with the 'ugly men' quote lmao