Not noble. Practical. James doesn't do anything from the goodness of his lack of a heart. To see your friends fail and die horribly, before being eaten by the teacher, is kind of demoralizing. Many of the deaths on James' class are caused by students giving up, either in their minds, or in their hearts. In his class, talent truly doesn't matter, because those that don't try, die. Horribly. And then they're eaten. Sorry, I just really like the whole eating people thing.