This seems like a very telling activity because it would really show not just the people around you but also yourself if your morals are skewed when you have something to gain versus when you have nothing to gain. I think most people would like to think they are morally just and not heavily biased to benefit themselves only but I think many times thats not true, it's just human nature to lookout for some ones family/ self before others. But this activity could show just how skewed you might be.

While it may be a pessimistic view i'm not sure how understanding how the world "could" be better would ever benefit a person in the situation of the imagined student. While yes it is true the world does change and change in itself is inevitable change is not always, or usually even for the better so how could "banking" on this change help this person in a very hard and stressful situation. I think it is easy to imagien how the world could be better but t does not mean that it will be easier to live in this world now. And while philosophy might compel people to want to change the world for the better would the student in this situation not be more worried about the state and health of her kids, job, and attaining a degree, then philosophically changing the world?