"We've Got Nothing to Do but Think"

"Class discussions were often rambling but always fascinating. I assigned only very brief reading assignments summarizing philosophical theories—perhaps four pages per class. All of utilitarianism, for example, got only a couple of pages, written in the simplest possible terms. The students struggled with the philosophical terminology, but most of them made it through. Their books, issued by the state with stern warnings against damaging them, were always open, always dog-eared, and usually marked up. For the first time in my teaching career, several students asked me for extra readings and extra assignments. It was professor catnip!"

Robert Garmong in The Chronicle of Higher Education recalls teaching a philosophy class in prison.