A professor wants to combat hookup culture by offering extra credit if students go on dates, according to Fox News Tuesday.
Kerry Cronin, a philosophy professor at Boston College, is trying to fight “hypersexualized” dating culture by giving students extra credit if they go on actual dates, Fox News reported. Cronin started her assignment 12 years ago after learning many of her senior students never went on a date. The students have two weeks to ask another student out in person with the requirement of not using any alcohol or making physical contact on the date. The students can neither spend more than $10 nor go on a date that exceeds 90 minutes.
“This is mostly not about meeting your soul mate; it’s mostly about social courage and challenging yourself to be a little countercultural, to do something you know you want to do,” Cronin told The Washington Post. “And to just be okay with being a little awkward, a little vulnerable, and asking a little bit of yourself.”
However, her assignment helped two Boston College students fall in love. Former student Erika Peña did the extra credit assignment back in 2008, asking a friend to grab ice cream. They ended up dating for several years, got engaged at the same ice cream shop, married in 2014, and now have a 15-month-old son.
Right now, dating is “a weirdly countercultural thing to do,” Cronin acknowledged. Her unconventional homework assignment resulted in landing her own documentary, “The Dating Project,” which is coming out Tuesday.
The Daily Caller News Foundation reached out to Professor Cronin for comments by email. However, no comments were given in time for publication.
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