Was the Hefty Sum “Justified?”

There are three types of people in this world: people who do their summer reading, people who pretend they do and people who proudly showcase their procrastination skills while desperately skimming chapter titles and SparkNotes. Each group was represented at this fall’s Academy Event: Michael Sandel’s presentation of his book Justice.

The hype surrounding this school-wide performance reached its climax during the grade-level discussions, the Connect4 dorm discussions, and the countless classroom debates over the infamous trolley conundrum.

Emotions were running high the night of the culminating affair, and optimists voiced hopes that Sandel would deviate from the standard issue “TED Talks” lecture that mirrored a good chunk of the book that the majority of the audience had read.

Alas, the majority of students acquainted with the book was sorely disappointed with the commercialistic, unoriginal points made in the first two-thirds of Sandel’s talk.

We here at The Scroll feel that any one of our capable teachers could have engaged the school on a deeper level and with a more concrete grasp of the ethical dilemmas that whittle away at our society.

We urge the Deerfield student body to be grateful for the incredible teachers, peers and community members who help us understand what is the right thing to do.