Ethics and Society.
He was already sick of the class. It was nothing against the subject itself-- in fact he quite enjoyed reading the topics assigned, as he was a deep thinker and genuinely enjoyed philosophy-- but the people in the class were definitely... interesting. A class discussing ethics was an easy, quick way to see into someone's moral code; he found himself disturbed by the amount of self-proclaimed "libertarians" in the class who obviously hadn't read the chapter. Abortion had been an interesting topic, even if they'd barely touched the subject before the teacher delayed it to a later date. Apparently discussing it twice wasn't worth the argument.
Sometimes he enjoyed hearing the arguments, however. When different but understandable opinions were brought to the table, it was a class worth going to. But when all the ultra-religious idiots got into the room and started going off on Bible rants, he just wanted to leave. It wasn't worth his time to suffer through all of that, especially when he typically didn't speak up in class to argue in the first place. He had certain subjects he wouldn't dare touch, religion being one of them, so he felt very restrained.
Besides, he was as introverted as they came. People made him terribly anxious and he shut down easily, so expressing himself in a philosophy class did not sound like a good way to spend his time. There was an outspoken girl in the class that occasionally touched on what he wanted to say, however; he'd picked up that her name was Leena, and while she got sort of obnoxious and loud, he had some level of respect for her. When she spoke up, he actually listened.
So it came as no surprise that he had absolutely no interest in arguing with her on the subject at hand-- god, that girl was fire and he'd be consumed if he dared speak up-- but unfortunately he heard his name being called. Nick realized he'd been making a face of disagreement as the girl spoke. The professor had caught his expression before he had the opportunity to school it off his face. "Care to argue with her?" The guy said, and Nick swallowed, biting the inside of his cheek as he tried to find words for it.
They'd been discussing Noddings' idea of feminine ethics, of course. And he'd long since gathered that Leena was a feminist-- he considered himself the same, but she took it to a degree he didn't agree with-- so he had to carefully compose himself. "Sure," he said, leaning back in his desk. "I agree that Noddings' idea of ethics is a good one. And I agree that if you're abiding by a gender binary, feminine is a good label for it, since it's seen as a motherly instinct to love her child in that way. It's not an abstract decision that you have to think about. But um-- I mean, obviously I agree with it, right? It's possible for men to embrace feminine ethics by default. My dad's more of an abstract "ethical caring" guy and you'd think I learned from him, but... I dunno." He didn't dare look around the rest of the classroom, instead focusing his attention on the chalkboard behind the teacher.
"I think things progressively change. Men embrace that type of ethics more and more as time goes on. Plus the gender binary can be restraining and ineffective. There's nothing wrong with being both masculine and feminine." He dared to spare a glance at Leena, then, his expression hesitant. As if he was afraid he'd be burned alive.