Belle

The lessons

Belle

"Lesson number one" I start as we come back from lessons that day. "Minorities". 

I grab a few books I had on that and have already saved some articles online. "Be honest right now, and I will try not to be too offended because this is based on your nurture, as a cis straight white rich male what do you hold stereotypes and judgment over. Nothing leaves our room" I state, walking over to my clothes and pulling out some sweats to change into in the bathroom instead of my uniform. 

"If you're not going to like the answer, why ask me?" Beast huffs from where he's sprawled on the sofa once I exit the bathroom. "Because I need to know the problem areas" I state, grimacing at where he's kicked his shoes onto some of his very expensive looking books. "Okay. I guess going from what my daddy taught me" He grimaces 

"Uh, he's Republican-" 

I cut in "That's hardly surprising". He rolls his eyes

"So there's some racial stigma. Uh... homophobia probably. Slightly sexist? Definitely classist" he lists off. I find my face twisting in disgust unconsciously but Beast doesn't seem to even register it. "I mean, I don't notice it in myself but I definitely hear a lot of comments like that".

"Well we've got to fix all of that. In this modern age you'll find more people will be against you than with you if you keep on being so prejudiced" I state. 

"Let's start with classist. You think people like me are lower down in worth than you?" I bluntly ask. He snaps his head over to me, observing me through his narrowed eyes before nodding, turning back to the ceiling. 

"And what about us makes us worth less than you?" I ask.

"You have a lot less power. You obviously don't work as hard as you don't get those positions of power which is purely lazy. Um, you're very dependent on the state which is annoying as we have to pay for it-" I cut him off there.

"Right. I'm literally setting you reading tasks. I didn't realise it was going to be this damn horrible. First of all, we're not in the positions of power because it's near impossible to get there if you're born to no money. Schools and companies and colleges pick children whose parents can pay a desirable amount of money for their child to be given the best education that money can bring because they are simply better qualified than state schools whilst average families have to make do with what's affordable and available at the time which means that we often miss out on the same opportunities as you do-"

"But you're in this school" He interjects. I blush

"Yes but I have nothing but studies to do. I was home schooled prior to this and as my father was a qualified professor once he was able to teach me to the best of his abilities in a way which was entirely adapted to my needs with a closeness that you won't get in any school because it's a pupil of one. I've worked tirelessly since elementary age to reach an achievement this big so don't try and say it's fair. Whilst I understand and appreciate how upper class children also have to work extremely high to meet required standards, money is an entirely biased thing in which everything that is better costs more money. They simply have better everything which makes them entirely more qualified than us"

And so after about two hours of bantering about how rich kids do in fact have to work super hard for the positions that they get because daddy's money can't buy everything, they do in fact have to work less hard for the same roles that lower class kids would have to work endlessly hard for. I leave him with some reading to get through and give him three days. 

When the three days are up, I start the conversation hopefully. "So, Beast. Did you make any sense of what I was trying to talk to you about with the class divide?" I question. And to my surprise, he nods!

"Yeah. I took in all the facts but and didn't really mean much to me... until Alexandro's story. God, I was getting so mad when he was talking about how much work and time and effort he put in for that scholarship to college to have it taken away because another kid decided to buy his way in. Like, he missed his damn little sisters birthday to prepare! He missed Christmas! I wanted to throw the damn laptop at the wall" he clenches his fist. 

In contrast to his anger I laugh.

 "So you see, it isn't really fair in this world but hey Mr Bigshot. You'll be the person who'll be giving away the opportunities when you're older so maybe you can do something to help people like Alexandro" I throw out there. A ghost of a smile appears on his lips.

"I'd like that" He says quietly, more to himself. "Well, we're moving onto number two. Feminism, another one close to my heart. Now what do you think Feminism is?" I ask.

"I think it's a group of people who think women should have the power instead of men" He responds breezily. 

I groan in frustration "This is going to take forever. For one thing, they don't want to steal the power from the men, they want the power to be equally divided between the genders." And so it goes on until the big reveal.

"Was there anything you found interesting in those articles?" I question.

"Actually, yeah. I feel dumb for admitting that I never realised that it affects men too. Like, standards of masculinity and all that stuff, it makes sense I guess" he shrugs but I can tell it means a little more than he's letting on. Gotta love those distant people. 

"And what about the women aspect, do you think there's entire equality between genders now?" I ask, bookmarking my place in one of his books he actually let me borrow. 

"I think the wage gap answers that question" he responds dryly, earning a chuckle from me. 

And so we go on and on addressing the different issues, and after a month passes I've opened his views just a little bit. Probably not anywhere near to the same point as mine but definitely a lot more than his views were. Also, he has topical arguments to add when conversation is brought up then.