Posted on 12/04/2023 7:00:03 PM PST by SeekAndFind
While I was in school we had electives to be sure, but “these sorts of courses” didn’t exist.
so i guess good ol’ “Underwater Basket Weaving” has gone the way of the Dodo bird ...
At UT I saw two kinds of one semester courses for students outside a major, from the inside:
1. Liberal Arts major taking a science course: Student signs up because it sounds fun, normal and easy, such as a semester course choice which, if they were a communication major (future reporter), would be the single required college level math or science course to graduate. One so easy it would not be for graduation credit in STEM. I knew a teaching assistant in Astronomy. The Astronomy profs made these elective science courses pathetically easy, because it brought $$$ into the department budget per student. They competed between departments for bucks to teach the easiest and sexiest / funnest STEM electives but those students complained that they had to be learn one equation (Newton’s law of Gravitation). These are your current Walter Krankheits.
2.Science or Engineering major taking liberal arts course: Student signs up because it sounds fun and normal. Example English course on “Kurt Vonnegut”. In reality a leftist brainwashing course where you could lose your GPA for grad or professional school for disagreeing about the leftist social activist / social justice / Marxist cryptic messages the teaching assistant saw in Vonnegut’s sci fi / humor satirical novels and stories. Or in Dickens. Ideology test from hell: you sign up for fun and they kneecap your future career based on political correctness.
I used to go to the Co-op (student bookstore) and read books from different majors and textbooks. The Communications (journalism Radio / Television / Film etc.) dept had their own history courses because the History dept wasn’t radical leftist enough ( 70s) . It was history rewrite without the chance of mixing it up with anybody who knew historical facts.
The Law School textbook store had required Marxism textbooks. (80s)
By contrast, A&M had educational objectives set out in writing for every course, and you could test out of anything if you proved you had mastered those educational objectives.
UT did not. I don’t think they didn’t want to say what they were really teaching out loud. They wanted your ass in a chair in their reducation camp to brainwash you where the parents and legislature wouldn’t know.
One time there was an srticle in the Austin Statesman ( I call it the Altered Statesman) about their student application and acceptance interview process, and they bragged how they asked “tell me about an issue where you disagree with your patrents.” I.E. if you had agreed with and gave some weight to your parents guidance, they didn’t want you.
.
As I’ve said many times... a lobotomy is far cheaper and obtains the same effect as most college degrees.
Years ago a similar list was posted. I made fun of the tree climbing class, but another freeper pointed out that it could be important to someone like a fire fighter who might need those skills. I agree with that.
Hmmm ... Literature courses don’t just have to be Shakespeare.
Science courses for non-scientists don’t have to be quite as “serious” as for the science majors ... and the popular culture tie in might be just what’s needed to get the non-scientists to pay attention and actually learn something.
I notice nothing about lesbian studies, or gay studies, or afrocentrism studies, or how to be a communist agitator.
You’re being played ...
Almost certainly.
I took two or three of those ... got 1 credit-hour for "trapshooting" and another 1 credit-hour for "fencing".
All work and no play makes the physics major go even more insane than he already is.
Discussion stopped and the "requirement" was rejected.
You don’t need to go to college to make maple syrup.
Put some sap on the stove and boil it down.
If that is to complicated look on rumble.
I do. It is women entering college hoping to find a good man to marry.
Passed maple syrup class taught by my grandfather in the 60s. He got a visit from a fed once who thought he was making moonshine.
The daughter of a friend actually received an undergraduate degree in Peace and Environmental Studies from a major private University. It qualified her for a job as a a barista. I guess one could raise an eyebrow about my under graduate degree with dual majors in Chemistry and French Language which started me on a career in healthcare policy.
No it’s not too complicated
Maybe my post was too complicated for you
RE: It qualified her for a job as a a barista
I was thinking, had she actually started working as a barista for say, Starbucks after graduating high school, she would be in management right now without having to repay her college tuition.
Google Mastery of Puppetry.
And the kicker was you had to take three courses a semester in order to complete your PhD course work in two years.
Bowling was a popular PE credit. Luckily military service counted as my 2 required PEs.
I liked basketball best. Our teacher divided us into groups of five and we played full-court shirts and skins for an hour. And got college credit (one anyway) for it!
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