Students at Boston College Get Extra Credits if They Go on Dates, Thanks to Their Philosophy Professor
The philosophy professor introduced the concept as going out on dates does not hold much importance today on college campuses.
Boston College philosophy professor Kerry Cronin is known as "dating professor" for encouraging her students to go on dates. Don't get her wrong, it is a part of the syllabus. She came up with the project as the hookup culture had become quite dominant on college campuses.
She created the assignment after learning that many of her seniors were about to graduate and had never been on a first date. She wants her students meet people and know how to talk to a stranger and start a conversation. She says it is easy to build those skills while in college, after graduation it is hard to focus on it.
Cronin says, going on a date has become "a weirdly countercultural thing to do." The professor had earlier given the project to students but realised they did not follow up on it, hence decided on a deadline and added extra credits. And on these dates, alcohol or any physical contact is not allowed.
The philosophy professor says going out on dates does not hold much importance on college campuses today. It is even considered countercultural. The Washington Post quoted her Cronin as saying, "How did going on a first date become 'countercultural'? That may sound bonkers if you're older than 22. But to many college students, Cronin acknowledges, meeting for a cup of coffee and sober conversation with someone you're interested in on a Sunday afternoon can feel more intimate than getting naked with them on a Friday night."
According to a report in The Washington Post. Cronin sees two main reasons for why students aren't prioritizing dating and relationships in college. Cronin says the mentality of 'giving importance only to career' is causing the problem. She says our culture focuses more on having sex than on "the foibles and the hard work and the joys and the despair of just casual dating."
She doesn't believe that the students will end up meeting their soulmate to marry them, it is just to interact and have a cordial relation. She says dating apps often treat people like they can be disposed of, there is no connection. There are many YouTube videos of Cronin's relationship advice.
One of her students, Erika Pena took Cronin's class in 2008, she then asked out a guy, while they knew through mutual friends they had never interacted. They then frequently started going on dates and got engaged. The couple married in 2014 and now has a 15month-old baby.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 17, 2018 09:27 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).