• 1) I don't need to display my credentials---the institutions where I did graduate work are listed in the college catalog if anyone at all is interested.

• 2) I do not wish to give up my privacy voluntarily.

• 3) My students already have a copy of the course syllabus for the course they are enrolled in. If you want a program for the play, you have to buy a ticket, don't you?

• 4) My students already have the handouts appropriate to the course they are enrolled in. See reason #3.

• 5) I've read Orwell's 1984; I know about Big Brother and Senator Lawless--both of them are surfing the Net.

• 6) Some people in my department spend time reviewing and comparing the computerized printouts of the grade distributions for each faculty member. I don't need to provide any more reading material for them.

• 7) If you make available to the general public a list of readings and suggested readings you feel are worthwhile for your students, someone will find fault with it. The fault-finder may be in a position to censor or influence the censoring of some materials.

• 8) The world does not need to know what things I find interesting enough to create links to (for example, the Edgar Allan Poe homepage or the Heinemann homepage or the Meg Ryan homepage).

• 9) I've got pictures of my family on my bulletin board and in my wallet; I don't need to broadcast a scanned picture of them to impress Web-colleagues.

• 10) One word---hybris! (the word is sometimes spelled hubris, though the y spelling is closer to the Greek).

English Department Home Page

Last updated byDr. James Strickland on March 17, 1997
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