Posted on 09/26/2015 8:00:27 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Here's a tip for incoming college freshmen: Class doesn't have to be boring. If you plan your schedule carefully, you will have time for some fun.
Course offerings change every semester, and many schools peg seminars and pop culture classes to current events. Chances are you'll have to take ancient history or molecular chemistry courses at some point, but you'll also have opportunities to explore topics you genuinely think are interesting, like zombie survival tactics or Harry Potter. Check out a few of the offerings at various institutions for the upcoming school year:
* Lucid Dreaming, Oberlin Experimental College
Oberlin's Experimental College in Ohio is actually a student-run organization where participants can earn credits for unusual subjects. Among this semester's offerings is lucid dreaming, a phenomenon in which the person dreaming realizes they're in a dream. It's possible to teach yourself how to do it, but this course provides structured lessons. Be prepared to keep a dream journal and do readings, but don't think this class is a snooze -- you're required to attempt to attain lucidity.
* Introduction To Basic Shoemaking, Rhode Island School Of Design
Students in this course spend class time learning every aspect of putting together a pair of cemented construction shoes. You'll create a pattern, sew the leather and form the sole from start to finish, according to the course description. Plus, you get to use a bunch of cool-sounding tools, like lasting pincers and a buff stick.
* Surviving The Coming Zombie Apocalypse – Disasters, Catastrophes And Human Behavior, Michigan State University
If zombies take over the world, do you have a plan? This online course wants to help you set one. Working in teams, students will analyze disaster response scenarios and apply them to an apocalypse. Instructors will introduce challenges along the way as you "attempt to survive the catastrophic event, escape death and preserve the future of civilization." No pressure.
* Why Is There No Soccer In The United States?, University of Memphis
Students in this class will attempt to answer the age-old question through comparative politics. They'll look at why American sports fans seem to like basketball and football better, what social identities contribute to this and how it could affect the globalization of sports culture.
* How To Stage A Revolution, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
We all want to change the world, and this class will show you how to do it -- kind of. The history class at MIT centers on revolutions, looking at how groups of people have seized control of their governments and created new ones. Students will examine declarations, newspaper clippings, constitutions and films as they try to determine what makes for a successful revolution.
* Nip, Tuck, Perm, Pierce, Tattoo, Embalm: Adventures With Embodied Culture, Alfred University
This course in Western New York aims to explain why and how people alter their bodies, and looks at everything from corsets to braces to "buns of steel," according to a course description. A 2012 poll found that one-fifth of Americans report having a tattoo, so there's certainly enough material -- and skin -- to cover. There are two required field trips: to a tattoo parlor and a funeral home.
* Politicizing Beyoncé, Rutgers University
As you might think, this course at the State University of New Jersey examines Queen Bey as an influential figure in American society. The course description reads: "On the surface, she might deploy messages about race, gender, class, and sexuality that appear conservative in relation to social norms, but during this course we will ask: how does she also challenge our very understanding of these categories?" Sounds like fun -- just don't show up Drunk in Class.
* Joy Of Garbage, Santa Clara University
Yes, this whole class in California is about trash -- examining the trajectory items take as they are "burnt, decomposed, landfilled, treated, recycled, reused, dumped on minority communities, or shipped abroad," according to its course description. In addition to learning the biological and chemical processes that take place as trash breaks down, students will discover more sustainable options for disposing of waste.
* The Boy Who Lived, All Grown Up: Assessing The Harry Potter Books And Their Adaptations, University of Maryland
Hogwarts may be fictional, but the classwork for this course is real. You'll be looking not at the famous books themselves but the different media they've evolved into, including Harry Potter audiobooks, theme parks, Legos and Tumblr blogs, according to the course description. By the end of the class, students will have to come up with an adaptation idea of their own -- no magic allowed.
* Southern Cuisine, Chesapeake College
Other schools may forbid people from eating in class, but this Maryland institution encourages it. After all, even the course description says that "Southerners are known for their hospitality and serving a bountiful and sumptuous table." Students will learn how to put together a balanced menu with traditional Southern dishes like homemade sweet tea, ham and biscuits. We're salivating already.
When you're in college your professor shows you "Blow" by Beyoncé as a class discussion & your HW is to watch more Beyoncé music videos 💀
______________________________
Bethany @yungbeth
spent half of class watching Beyonce music videos today (as if I needed another reason why @UCLA is the best college in the universe)
[Shrug]
Yeah, like “Ancient Greek Theater” is so much better. All that academic reverence for Aristophanes? fart jokes and lesbians.
The shoemaking course at RISD could come in handy.
.
“Dad, can I have $60,000 for my junior year?”
“Not unless you show me the syllabus for every course you plan to take.”
Care to guess who will own the 21st century?
No wonder college students are absolutely clueless as to who is vice president and what the Bill of Rights is. They are too busy taking lightweight fluff nonsense like this. And it is criminal that this garbage, fit for little kids, counts toward a (useless) degree. Their parents scrimped and saved, for their kids to take idiot courses like this. This isn’t education, it’s a fraud perpetrated upon the parents who pay for this and the students who are sold on wasting their precious chance at a college education. What a travesty.
Starbucks has tons of job openings for people graduating with a full slate of these kinds of courses.
And a real course on this would have to mention that leftism and PC thinking will be the most useless things in a zombie apocalypse, and can get you killed. Not going to happen in a college course.
Don’t forget, Underwater Basket Weaving is a real course at two colleges.
http://www.fastweb.com/student-life/articles/the-25-epic-college-courses
about beyonce-
Beyoncé believes she is possessed by a demon “sasha Fierce” And she is VERY serious about it too- Her shows are full of demonic satanic symbolism as well
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21GOSnJc4Mg
Make of it what you will
Well, not a lot more useless than some of the PE classes I was required to take in the 70s. Fly and bait casting was pretty much a joke. Especially since I wasn’t a fisherman.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.