I can’t help but want to share with you a list of 15 strangest college classes in America posted by our friends at Online Colleges Blog. Personally, these lists always reminded me of some of the science grants that take their shots from Congress (which of course is filled with millionaire attorneys, not scientists)–most, if not all, are quite legitimate, but taken out of context, can easily be made to look ridiculous. So in reading through these course descriptions, I can see that some of the faculty have just expressed their personal interests and creativity in trying to make their work relevant to students. About others, however, I’m not so sure.
At any rate, here’s the list. Check out the link above for complete course descriptions.
- The Strategy of StarCraft–UC Berkeley
- Myth and Science Fiction: Star Wars, the Matrix, and Lord of the Rings–Centre College
- Far Side Entomology–Oregon State
- Simpsons and Philosophy–UC Berkeley
- Cyberporn and Society–State University of New York at Buffalo
- The Science of Harry Potter–Frostburg State University
- Zombies in Popular Media–Columbia College, Chicago
- The Science of Superheroes–UC Irvine
- Joy of Garbage–Santa Clara University
- Daytime Serials: Family and Social Roles–University of Wisconsin
- The Art of Walking–Centre College
- Philosophy and Star Trek–Georgetown University
- Learning From YouTube–Pitzer College
- Underwater Basket Weaving–UC San Diego
- Arguing with Judge Judy: Popular “Logic” on TV Judge Shows–UC Berkeley
I am not aware of any comparable coursework we have at Cal Poly, although as a prominent agricultural school, our students do some interesting things. I recall being somewhat startled to see, as I exited my parking lot, a group of students sporting plastic gloves that came up to their shoulders standing around a cow. Some things, I don’t need to know. Our City and Regional Planning department offers a course in Reflections of Planning in Cinema, and Computer Science offers courses in computer game development (considering the amount of money these programmers make, this is surely sensible). Other interesting courses include Terrorism: Understanding the Threat, Sports Field Construction and Management, Survey of Viticulture, Jesus, and the Design of Museum Displays in Science, Engineering, and Technology.
Out of the 15 courses, I’m thinking that the Star Trek and Harry Potter classes would be kinda fun.
10 Comments
msirna · March 2, 2009 at 6:55 pm
A lot of these classes seem like they would be really interesting to take. It takes a topic generally thought of as mundane, and puts an interesting cultural spin on it. Its always interesting to take ideas from class and apply them to stuff in our everyday society, and that is what these classes do. They engage students, and make lessons more practical.
ewalter · March 2, 2009 at 8:05 pm
I think schools should offer more clases like these to keep students interested. I think it helps lighten the mood and helps with the overall stress level if there are classes like these. I would take the Harry Potter class lol. I would like to see someone attempt to underwater basket weave.
Christinawright · March 2, 2009 at 10:11 pm
After reading this list I had to call my boyfriend and share with him because he’s a big movie buff who generally hates anything having to do with school!! Even he had to admit that some of these classes sounded awesome! I can’t really see how most of these would really be relevant in real life, but they would be really interesting to take as elective credits! I do have to wonder about the instructors that thought up these ideas, though. And, what’s more, how they got the classes approved by the universities!
Laura Freberg · March 3, 2009 at 3:41 pm
At Cal Poly, we are usually encouraged to offer new courses as experimental courses, like Mike Selby’s Forensic Psychology. That way, you can see how students react to the courses before you propose them as permanent courses. I think it’s safe to say that with the current economy, we will be offering fewer electives. It’s going to be hard enough to offer the core courses students need to graduate 🙁
jforsberg · March 4, 2009 at 4:53 pm
I found many of these classes very intriguing! As a child development major I know it would be possible to teach an entire course on the pro-social effects of Harry Potter. I’ve heard of the Beatles class and Social Construction of Whiteness classes on campus that sound interesting. It is very unfortunate that this generation of college students may be missing out on some fun and interesting elective opportunities because of the economy as you mentioned!
jforsberg · March 4, 2009 at 4:53 pm
I found many of these classes very intriguing! As a child development major I know it would be possible to teach an entire course on the pro-social effects of Harry Potter. I’ve heard of the Beatles class and Social Construction of Whiteness classes on campus that sound interesting. It is very unfortunate that this generation of college students may be missing out on some fun and interesting elective opportunities because of the economy as you mentioned!
kpeters · March 5, 2009 at 12:33 pm
So many interesting classes are offered even here at Cal Poly, but it just seems hard to take classes that interest us. In between trying to get through college in 4 years and such tight registration, taking classes just out of interest seems extremely rare. I do try to incorporate some intriguing classes into my schedule, but it’s hard to not think about how they will put me back in my final goal of graduating!
Mhusband · March 5, 2009 at 7:38 pm
Those classes sound so interesting! I agree with all the comments above. I feel that student would love to take classes with interesting titles even if it is just adding a bit of pop culture into a philosophy course. When teacher can relate a general education course to something that really interest students, you get a win-win situation. The teachers gets to teach the subject they want and the students get to learn about things they are interested in. Out of all those classes, I would take either the Harry Potter one or the class about learning from youtube. You could probably learn a ton for youtube!
KellyThornton · March 8, 2009 at 2:20 pm
I have mixed feelings on these courses. I understand that these unique classes offer students an interesting and fun subject matter, but how are these courses going to help students advance in their careers. If the movie classes were offered at a film school, that seems very reasonable, but at at Cal Poly, where students are getting a degree in biology, business, and architecture, I don’t really see how “underwater basket weaving” is relevant.
However, some of these classes would be appropriate for a GE class. Most of the GE classes offered at Cal Poly are so boring and irrelevant to most students. I would be much more interested in “the science of superheroes” than other random GEs offered at Cal Poly. So overall, a little fun in college courses would be nice.
Alexscharf · March 16, 2009 at 6:13 pm
I wish some of these were offered at Cal Poly, more college based fees i guess. I had a friend who took “Vampires in Society” at UCSB. I at Cal Poly, had the privelege of taking ENGL 731 which is an english class that studied famous film directors. And lucky me every Monday for our “Lab” we got to watch one of the directors movie at the Palm Theatre in downtown SLO. It was great every week I was going to the Movies.
I wish money was not such an issue in education. Expanding minds is more important that expanding bank accounts in the long run, but to each is one.
It would be great if each Professor could teach a wacky class on the side. Becasue people dreed GE’s anyway, so why not make them fun and unique. If that was the case, sign me up.
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