"Special girl exam."

“I have good news and bad news,” says Professor Wong. “The good news is that you all did very well on your regular Quantum Physics 101 exam, especially the boys. As such, I’m happy to welcome you all to Quantum Physics 102.”

There’s a few cheers from the students in the lecture hall. Around sixty percent of them are girls.

“The bad news is,” says Professor Wong, “that the girls all did terribly on their special girl exam. In fact, they failed! We’re going to need to take special measures to motivate the girls to do better in Quantum Physics 102. As such, all female students in Quantum Physics 102 are from now on prohibited from wearing pants during class hours.”

He has to duck behind his desk to avoid the bombardment of wadded-up paper from outraged female students, while the boys sit by and snigger. “Don’t look at me like that, girls! It’s a conventional disciplinary measure! The government strongly recommends its use! I’m just the messenger! Now, now, let’s have order in the classroom, please.”

A TA is already going around with a sack, collecting pants. “Skirts also qualify,” explains Wong, helpfully, before anyone can ask the question. “Dresses, too. Yes, just hand over the whole thing. No, you’re not allowed to leave the room, participation is a big part of the grade. Embarrassing? Well, yes, it’s supposed to be, that’s why it’s a disciplinary measure. Listen, if you wanted to keep your pants on you should have done better on the test.”

He waits until all the pants are in the sack, then clears his throat and regards the room with a stern eye.

Hundreds of depantsed girls sit sulking before him. Boyshorts, briefs, thongs, hipsters, cheekies, bikini-cut and french-cut panties in every color of the rainbow, with spots, stripes, skulls, lightning bolts, polka-dots, smiley faces, lovehearts, strawberries, pixel art, cartoon characters and every other imaginable decoration are on display.

Thighs cross and uncross. Quite a few girls have lost their dresses, and are showing their bras as well. At least five or six extremely embarrassed young ladies weren’t wearing panties at all today, and now are deeply regretting it.

“Now,” says Wong, crossly. “I don’t want to hear any more complaining. There will be weekly tests of your mathematical abilities, girls, under the same anti-cheating rules as last time. And to ensure you all do your best, the girl who gets the lowest score will face a consequence. Kitty, come up to the front, please.”

“Fuck.”

“Now.”

Kitty, in her tight black band T-shirt, yellow cheeky panties and Converse sneakers, slowly stands up from her seat. The boys all chuckle, as do some of the girls, as she glumly walks down the aisle to the stage at the front of the class. Professor Wong points to a spot on the floor, visible from every angle.

“I’m very disappointed in you, Kitty,” he says. “I thought you were smarter than this. Undress.”

With trembling hands, Kitty strips naked in front of the whole class. Giggles fill the room as she’s made to apologize in a loud, clear voice for being bad at math, before Professor Wong bends her over a desk and spanks her bare bottom with a ruler one hundred times. Finally, she has to sit naked on a hard wooden stool with a dunce cap on her head for the rest of the lesson.

One hour and forty-five minutes of incredibly interesting quantum theory passes. It’s so fascinating that Kitty, once or twice, almost manages to forget that she’s completely nude on stage. Some of the other girls are actually able to stop thinking about the fact that they’re not wearing pants for five, even ten minutes at a time.

“...and that’s what a quark is,” Wong concludes. “Now, girls, I’m not so heartless as to make you all walk back home without your pants! Although I do expect you not to bring any along next time. Now, where is that TA with the pants sack…”