Prisons should be abolished. Instead they should lock offenders in a library. Their ticket to freedom is not measured in time but in essays. Petty thieves must write fifty. Murderers must write 200. The essays will cover a variety of topics, with a heavy focus on ethics and moral philosophy but not excluding any other academic area. Each given title must be explored in depth, critical analysis must be displayed, references must be made and correctly formatted. Illiteracy shall be no excuse. They are there indefinitely; there is time for everything to be learnt. Essays will be marked, say, by masters students looking for extra credit, or retired professors with time on their hands. A minimum standard will be required for the essay to be counted. Improvement must be displayed. Bibliographies must be alphabetised. There will be no plagiarism. Surveillance will be absolute. The best essays might even be published. There will be no internet except perhaps for online journals and academic resources. This does not include Wikipedia. Whilst there will be no deadlines, prisoners must complete all of their assigned essays. Those who do not wish to comply will never be freed.
After they have written a certain number of essays they will then be allowed to specialise, choosing their preferred topics. Finally, their last essay will be a lengthy dissertation or thesis. Then and only then will they be freed.
I am going to write a story of some variety, long or short, fictitious or factual, every single day for a year. Wish me luck.
Undergraduate metaphor?
ReplyDeleteGradually the libraries will become so full of dyslexic criminals that it will no-longer be possible to punish the literate criminals!
ReplyDelete