"Making everyone feel that things are fair is, in itself, the greatest unfairness..."
"Hmm?" To Shizuka Hiratsuka, Sogo Doma's words were practically heretical.
"Shizuka Hiratsuka, what do you think most people strive for? Is it to realize their personal worth?" The hot-blooded female teacher fell silent. She wanted to say yes, but even she herself scoffed at that kind of answer.
Of course, she could brush it off with—
"Some people do strive to realize their self-worth"—but that might work on students who had yet to leave the ivory tower. Trying to fool someone as thoroughly corrupted as Sogo Doma with it, though...
"In my view, people strive purely to satisfy their own desires..."
"Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs?" Shizuka Hiratsuka felt her head ache. All of a sudden, she felt that students knowing too much was not necessarily a good thing.
"So you know about it too, Shizuka Hiratsuka?"
"Obviously. I did go to university, you know..."
"Since you know this theory, then here's the question: does a school forcing students onto the same starting line conform to Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs? Do you know what discussion I find the most laughable? It's when people say things like, 'They're only doing well because their family is rich.'"
"Hold it right there..." Before he could finish, Shizuka Hiratsuka stopped him. "Don't you think earning respect through your own efforts is more fulfilling? Even according to Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs..."
"Tsk, tsk..." Sogo Doma chuckled again. "So, Shizuka Hiratsuka, are you tossing several generations of other people's hard work into the trash again?"
"..."
"I don't object to changing one's fate through hard work, but does an individual's effort mean you can ignore the efforts of several generations of others?"
"..."
"More importantly, most people do not even bother trying. All they