Memories of a past life part 2......

I just started reading Ender's Shadow by Orson Scott Card (OSC) and there was a small scene in the book that really gave me pause. The scene is as follows...

The main character, Bean, is a little boy (physically), very young (like 5-ish), yet is damn intelligent. He's in a shuttle (the flying kind) to go to a space station with a bunch of other boys (all smart but much older and bigger). As the flight begins in earnest an adult (an instructor) comes out and starts to mentally flail the boys (basically the don't think you're smarter than everyone else speech). Near the end of the speech he points out in no unclear terms that the little boy Bean is much smarter (and thereby better) than all the other boys and he does this by intentionally involving Bean to prove that Bean is "the man". Bean of course realized what's going on and has this thought:

"..He[Bean - ed.] could feel the hostility of the other children. There was nothing he could do about that right now, and he wasn't sure that it was a
disadvantage, anyhow. What mattered was the much more puzzling question:
Why did the man set him up like that?" - [Ender's Shadow, Orson Scott Card, p 90 paperback,Tor Publishing, 1999]

Of course, having read Ender's Game by OSC, I already know the answer to the question. The main character in Ender's Game (EG) was setup in a very similar fashion on his way to the same space station. At any rate, this particular idea made me put the book down and ponder.

The whole idea (at least in my mind) of this instructor character is to bring attention to Bean, make the other boys begin to hate him, isolate him, thus driving Bean to struggle to survive and try to fit in by rising to every challenge and proving to everyone else (including himself) that he is the best of the best. Now when I was an instructor I also brought attention to those I thought deserved the mantle of being called bright (well I might have been mistaken in Kenny's case....damn I hate him....). As I think back I feel that I "marked" these students for a very similar purpose (though T-ed just BEGS to be made fun of, bright or not).

So the first question to myself is,"Did I actually succeed in my attempt to cause these marked students to become better than they would have?" Now I know some of loyal one's will respond and say of course I did, but I think the truth of the matter is that this kind of question is pointless and silly. The only way to ever determine a true answer to the question would be to have some way to see what the world would be like if "X" factor were different. Which outside of Hollywood and games, isn't very likely. So those of you wanting to make me feel "better" by replying that you couldn't have gone on without me, stow your pens and send cash instead ;).

The main question of this wandering mental masturbation (oh yeah...I said it...) is, "Why do I hate this instructor, and by past deeds myself, for doing this to a young mind?" I finished the chapter and just feel this urge to reach through the pages and punch the instructor right in the "twig and berries". I know in the end Bean will be better for it, and will help save the world (gee...didn't see it coming...). Yet I'm angry that in order to do so, Bean will have to suffer through so much more just to live his life. In the context of literature, I guess I can rationalize that the end justifies the mean (mean...Bean....get it?....damn, tough crowd). So hear I am, on the verge of a intellectual breakthrough, and suddenly my brain turns off and I think I have to poo...