(Molochio hasn’t yet spoken at the convention, and while he was interested in the committees none of them felt like places where he could meaningfully contribute. This, on the other hand, is something he has been thinking a little bit about.)

”I, uh, second the motion.” (That’s how its supposed to work, right? He still isn’t quite clear on the rules.) “I, uh, think that way the schools were before the war weren’t very good, and aren’t going to work anymore now that Hell isn’t funding them. But we still need to figure out a way to, uh, teach people things, and figure out how we are going to train wizards and alchemists and things, so I also think we should have a committee on that.” 

It doesn’t sound like a trap?  And it’s something she cares about.  And presumably Irori as well?

“Irori believes in perfecting the mind as well as the body, and as one of his chosen I support this motion as well.”

"Against. The schools were a waste of time and money when Hell was paying for them, and we have more pressing uses for the gold."

Like maybe actually being able to pay for an army that doesn't suck - she's not convinced they'll get there, but she's pretty sure it's the bare minimum requirement.

"Support. I have returned from Absalom, to teach Wizardry here in Westcrown again. I would want clever students in the habit of thinking, and you get those with schooling."

It's a little bit scary, but he doesn't want them to pass shit by with sneaky wording worked out in private. He thinks about it while waiting his turn. How to phrase that objection though... Come at it hintingly, at first.

"I see no harm in more committees. The committees are just making suggestions. Whatever comes out of 'em will get picked apart for problems and suspicious stuff in front of all of us."

Whether school helps with thinking really depends on the schooling, doesn't it. But - she likes being able to read.

.....not going to speak up unless it looks like the committee is unlikely to get made. Not that that'll make her look less diabolist, but she could do with no more floor speeches any time soon.

A sortition delegate raises her placard. "Against," she says. "The schools were awful — you spent half your time whipping people or getting whipped, and the other half being taught to praise Asmodeus. You can't just decide they won't be evil and have them not be evil."

Finally, someone else who has actually set foot in a school before.

"Before Sarenrae opened my eyes," Drevnic says, coming to the front, "and afterwards, to maintain my cover, I taught children. And I do not believe that I, in a just world, should ever be given the tutelage of a single living being again. There is goodness in the world; in a tree, in a flower, in a dog, in a child, in the sun. There is none in a whip. If we cannot have only Good schoolteachers, we should have none."

She wants to respond to that… but another floor argument like yesterday’s over the role of (Lawful) Neutral Gods doesn’t sound productive.  As long as the committee is created she can argue her case there under calm rational conditions and not the open floor.

She shakes her head. "There are certainly schools in Absalom without whipping or the praise of Asmodeus. The wealthy send their children, for significant fees, and they would hardly accept excessive maltreatment"

(Some clerics, alas, lack Thea’s prudence.)

“I, uh, know that some delegates are saying that we shouldn’t have a committee on education because schools are evil and whip children, but, uh, I don’t understand why that means we shouldn’t have a committee on it. I agree we should make rules that you can’t whip children, or make them venerate Asmodeus, in school, but that seems like the sort of thing we need a committee to do— to figure out what the new rules for schools should be.”