The incredible shrinking class

My urban fantasy class has turned out to be quite small. While I had 25 enrolled last summer, enrollment peaked at 15 in early summer and was down to 11 by the time the class met for the first time. For various reasons, that number has now dwindled to 7. It’s beginning to feel like one of those Agatha Christie stories in which the characters are offed one by one. This lightens the grading load to say the least. The surviving class members are quite a good group, so I find myself with a seminar class in fantasy. One casualty was the result of plagiarism, which always pisses me off. I was hoping to get through the summer without one. They seem to be more common in recent years; the internet makes it so easy, I suppose. But the same internet makes it so easy to catch. Don’t these people Google? The favorite source of stolen words these days? Amazon.com reviews. I just had a plagiarism on Gaiman’s Anansi Boys that was cobbled together from 4 or 5 different reviews, some of which were really quite intelligent. Unfortunately, the authors weren’t enrolled in my class…

2 thoughts on “The incredible shrinking class

  1. How does one go about signing up for your classes? Do you only teach at Universities? I got my hands on Circuit of Heaven a few years ago, and it remains one of my favorite sci-fi reads. 🙂 I own a curiosity shop in Richmond, called CURIO at 1208 W Main Street. Come by sometime if you’re ever in the area.

  2. I walk by your place every day going to and from school. I’ll drop in some time. I can always use more curiosity. I’ve only been teaching at VCU, but I’m not opposed to teaching elsewhere. They’ve treated me well.

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