No, no, not me– Alex Halavais, who teaches communications and informatics at the University of Buffalo (isn’t that the same as SUNY, Buffalo?). I stumbled across his blog today while procrastinating, and read this entry about a course he’s teaching about pornography. A few of the highlights I found both amusing and interesting:
- “I keep the door to my office closed when writing lectures and when someone knocks, I have to make sure the screen is clear of anything offensive, despite the fact that I will be talking about this in front of a class of 400.”
- “Although there may be people who would find the danger of teaching such a course an addiction to porn, at this point I would be happy if I never again saw the image of a naked person.”
- “It’s not just me who gets bored with porn. I have a feeling that while many students took this course because of the nature of the material, the novelty has worn off (despite what the school newspaper suggests).”
- “At this stage, it appears clear that a not insubstantial number of the students are going to fail the course, despite some generous curves on the exams. I don’t know that some brief titillation is worth having to admit to failing your porn course.”