They are supposed to be cathedrals of higher learning. In recent years,colleges have revamped their course structure to pave the way for some unusual courses to be incorporated into the curriculum. While some of them may have dregs of intellectual inquiry, others are downright bizarre.We take a look at some courses which may make you wonder if that beer pong championship your son enrolled in is not such a bad thing after all.
A mandatory course for some freshmen at Occidental College, ‘The Unbearable Whiteness of Barbie-Race and Popular Culture in the United States” tries to explore ways in which “scientific racism has been put to use in the making of Barbie.” Elizabeth Chin, the instructor of this course warns students that the course itself is no child’s play. With assigned readings ranging from Sandra Kisneros to Karl Marx, the course incorporates some pretty hardcore academic content. Nevertheless, a course on race which describes the whiteness of Barbie as unbearable seems incredibly unscientific. Wonder if this course was offered when a certain gentlemen named Barack Obama was roaming the corridors of this West Coast institution.
Since such an important aspect of everyday living must have theological implications, Loyola college decided that the inextricable link between God and eating was to be explored. Students are taught the ‘complex religious aspects associated with eating’, exploring the texts to expound the intricacies of etiquette in a canonical context. The evolution debate may not have been decided, but common sense predicts problems for those who do not eat a balanced diet. However, if free servings are part of the deal,it may help all those poor souls dissect (food) theology.
Occidental college makes another appearance on the list, this time for the accommodation of stupidity. Of course, the word refers the name of the course rather than a quality possessed by its students. The course itself uses works of Friedrich Nietzsche and Gilles Deleuze among others to clarify that ‘stupidity is neither ignorance nor organicity, but rather, a corollary of knowing and an element of normalcy, the double of intelligence rather than its opposite’. Only those who indulge in it must know.
No matter how useless Garbage sounds, Virginia Matzek of Santa Clara University will try to change your impression of it. A ‘science class for non science-majors’, the Joy of Garbage is apparently a ‘serious class where students are required to do research and learn how to work with data’. Among the questions asked are “What is the difference between ‘garbage’ ,’discard’ and ‘waste’?” and “What could be a better title for the course?” ‘The Joy of Wasting time’,perhaps?
The Rhode Island School of Design attracts aspiring artists and designers from around the country but it is inconceivable to think that some of them might want to ‘lust with the saints and burn with the sinners.’ However, if any one of them accepts the invitation, they can spend the semester analysing the moral dimensions of the works of classical as well as modern artists. Being the artsy school that RISD is, the course and the teacher should have a cult following.Well, different strokes for different folks.
Philosophy students at Georgetown University read works by Aristotle, Kant and others. However, its done under the pretext of understanding the philosophical depths of Star Trek.
The course serves as an introduction to metaphysics and epistemology philosophy,and tries to dissect the major philosophical questions which come up in the science fiction entertainment drama. Another proof that the ingenuity of educators has conjured ways of teaching which were hitherto unknown.
The American South is still the bastion of conservatism and evangelism, but that doesn’t stop them from trying to expound Zombies. The credit for this pioneering course must go to Sean Hoade, professor of English at the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa, who draws parallels between American consumption patterns and Zombies. His observation that ‘zombies act as a mirror for Americans, not only as we see ourselves but also as the rest of the world sees America in the time of George W. Bush: as a roaming, voracious killer turning its victims into soulless creatures like itself’ may be a little far fetched, but his students are not complaining.
Those who decide to attend Alfred University in a bucolic part of Western New York State, may find themselves in a classroom studying the subtleties concerned with the production of maple syrup. The only prerequisite for the course is the ‘willingness to work for long periods in snow,cold and mud’. The production techniques invented by the Native Americans which have endured constant change are dissected, visits to local producers, restaurants and festivals augmenting the process. It’s the Real Thing, so students can find jobs easily with this course on their resume!
The Art of Walking might seem trivial to some, but not to Dr Ken Keffer, Professor of Modern Languages at Centre College, Kentucky. He conducts a class dedicated to the understanding of ‘intelligible and sensual design in inner and outer nature’,first expounded by Immanuel Kant. Apart from the customary walks which he takes with his students to the nearby Perryville Battlefield and the surrounding areas,Dr Keffer assigns freelance walking assignments for students to appreciate the subtleties of walking. Now, where is this college again?
The people at Occidental College decided that in the course of human events it becomes necessary for students to delve into the ‘signification of the phallus’ and the ‘relation of the phallus to masculinity, femininity, genital organs and the fetish’. It being self evident that the phallus occupies a central theme in the psychoanalytic theories of gender and sexuality, the course occupies a pivotal role in the Intercultural and Queer program.All this for a price of about four thousand five hundred dollars.
Great list. I think the Unbearable Whiteness of Barbie is a play on words of Milan Kundera’s book “The Unbearable Lightness of Being”…just saying…it was a great book, btw
lolol, phallus
Heard that UC at Irvine has a course called “The Science of Superheroes”. I think they break down the scientific potential of specific superpowers. I’d actually be tempted to take the course!
What a total waste of Time and resources…. Well if it floats their boat, why should we care.
I have been undertaking a phallus self study for a few years now. I’m working on my Phd.
I can see that the potential for the comments to be some of the best ever exists in this list
how many people would actually go one of these courses, they must be even more disturbed that the people who created them… although i would think that creaters would be fired for their stupidity
O_o i already majored phallus a few years ago….
i wonder if they have an opening…. lol
I have been working on my oral presentation.
Sometimes it turns into a sticky situation.
All right, I’m done.
Goodnight, folks.
that last one is a little nsfw! it should have been mentioned at the top
damn, i picked the wrong college to attend
i’d like to enroll to the item #1 hehehehe
I heard that there is a course in some university(can’t remember which) in the UK, that has a course on Posh and Beck(David and Victoria Beckham!) That waaay more bizarre than ALL these!
Staffordshire University in the UK offered a module on “Beckhamology” – an in-depth study of the significance of David Beckham.
I mean seriously…. WTF??? Can you imagine the career prospects? lol
Its Staffordshire University…beat that someone!
haaa… beat you to it Bel
)
Is #1 considered a “hard” course?
Definitely, some classes at colleges across the land have been worthless.
But… A play on words to draw students into signing up for a class doesn’t mean the class isn’t worthwhile. Riffing off popular culture to draw students in doesn’t mean the class doesn’t teach students new things. Romero did intend his zombies to be a critique on society and its trends. And I’m pretty sure you don’t know the meaning of “scientific racism.”
Also, calling the racism course a “mandatory” course for freshmen is misleading; freshmen have a wide variety of cultural studies courses to choose from. Do you just have something against the school?
Academics are bizarre…what else can you say?
Apparently there is a university in California that also offers a course in Vampire Studies and another in Tolkien Elven. Not sure if it’s true, though…
Tolkein Elvin is a legitimate course. Sure it's not a real language in the sense that English is a real language, but Tolkien was a linguist and the language he created follows general rules of syntax, morphology, etc.
None of those on the list seem specially bizarre to me, bu Tolkien elven…wow, that really exists? Sindarin, quenya, both or I ask too much? That's something for me lol
I hope the professor at #1 isnt a feminist. Thats would be such a boring course
I’ve gotta say, I think numbers 9 and 1 are perfectly valid and not that bizarre (as long as what we are talking about is single modules incorporated into a degree of some sort.)
I spent a good chunk of my third year examining the ways in which food affected medieval ascetics, and asceticism has far reaching effects and is still culturally relevant today.
Number 1, well, we all know how many ‘great men’ have been ultimately rules by their peckers :p
wow… and i thought we had the weird ones like a psychology course where you get to talk about your experiences on *****, interview prostitutes and watch “artsy” *****ography films as a class. never got around that class though. it’s always full everytime i try to enroll in it.
I wonder if you have to censor your ****ing papers like that.
Where I attend college, the 7th entry on this list is actually called “Waste Management” and is given only to Environmental Health students. It’s actually a highly interesting course and not considered a waste of time, because in case no one has noticed, we have a huge problem when it comes to pollution, and such classes target the problem as well as offer solutions.
The rest are pretty bizarre!
the maple syrup one isnt all that strange … its like a special form of agriculture, what if you wanted to open up your own maple syrup orchard, farm, etc. it provides perfect hands on training … no? by the way you used a picture of Canadian maple syrup to represent an American course : P just putting that out there, of course i could be wrong, my judgement based purely on my national symbol front and center on the label which of course symbolizes the exact same tree American maple syrup comes from, so hell maybe I’m just tired ….. : /
Few of these seem like wastes of resources. The creator of #10 tried to create a play on words for a dissection of culture and racism; big deal.
#9 is important to anyone studying theology because food and religion are mixed in just about every religious culture, from the Body of Christ to ritual sacrifices in ancient Mesopotamia to the dietary restrictions of many Eastern religions. Also, if (as is almost definitely the case) Loyola is the Jesuit-founded college, check your facts before making jokes – the Catholic Church officially accepts the theory of evolution.
Can’t talk about #8 because I never went in-depth with those philosophers, but #7 seems pretty darn important. Garbage study is a major aspect of anthropology; you can tell a ton about ancient cultures by what they threw away because a lot of it is still there. It’s also an environmental sciences course, which makes it perfectly relevant to the modern day (even though we’re not actually in danger of running out of landfill space – not by a long shot).
I’m no artist, but #6 seems very appropriate in that art often pushes the boundaries of what’s socially acceptable. #5 seems weird, but considering Star Trek’s popularity it could also be used to study the people who watch the show. #4 seems a little specialized; I’d say it could be fine, especially since it’s an INTERIM COURSE – meaning it’s only a couple weeks long.
#3 is culturally and industrially relevant in the area in which it’s taught. There are still careers in harvesting maple syrup; that stuff’s really expensive!
#2 I have no defense for. None whatsoever.
#1 could be good or bad, depending on how much effort the professor puts into it and what approach is applied. As said by Arsenal, taught by a rabid feminist, it would be a horrible course. A more balanced approach might make it relevant to some disciplines (as in, anthropology and study of ancient architecture).
LOLz on #1! XD
Woah at the artwork for 1 o_0… you probably need to be ‘stuck-up’ to get into that course… BWAHAHA
I think this list lacks objectivity and treats all of the courses as nonsense. I think number five deserves merit because star trek does a superb job at attacking modern philosophical and social problems with parallels of the future, no small feat.
Theres a book called “the wrath of kant” which connects startrek to kant
I admit; I’ve taken some crazy courses in college. Lol.
Early this year, I enrolled on a course about the history vampires and I’m currently taking one about horror.
*history of vampires
my college seems so boring
I think that the University of Wisconsin there is a class about Soap Operas. Not sure the content exactly, maybe gender roles.
I am a bit perplexed at the short-sightedness of the professors who offer these courses. The content of most of these classes sounds promising, but what is a future employer going to think when they look at a prospective employee’s transcript and see “Stupidity,” “Zombies!,” or “The Phallus?” Throwing a monkey wrench into a students potential employment seems a high price to extract for being “cool” or “unusual.”
It might stand out, honestly. Especially in applying for jobs where 100+ applicants are in the running, etc. In some of those situations just looking different can set you apart because everyone else is so typical.
*at the University
The course is called Daytime Serials: Family and Social Roles
I think a few of these sound waaay interesting.
The incredible whiteness of Barbie is very socially relevant; the NA ideal of beauty and it’s pervasiveness is scary. In Jamaica your social standing depends on the lightness of your skin; light skinned black folks are seen as more worthy. Definitely a subject worth study.
I would assume that the Star Trek course would have similar social relevance to the Barbie course – it’s been mentioned on another list that the first interracial kiss on television was Uhura and Kirk. That in itself could be spun into an entire semester’s worth of related material.
Being Canadian we took the Maple Syrup course in elementary school. We had a patch of sugar bush, tapped the trees, boiled the sap down, tossed it on a pan of snow and ate it. I’m going to assume that the university course also teaches proper land management, distribution, marketing etc. And it is expensive as hell – a small bottle (500ml) is over 7 bucks. And we produce the stuff.
Someone else has already mentioned it, but it bears repeating – Loyola is a Jesuit University – the Catholic Church officially accepts evolution. Willful ignorance is not encouraged.
what’s the title and artist who painted the picture in phallus?
Steve(34) – at the University I attended, the course would have a “cool” name and a regular name. Something like – The Joy of Garbage : Waste management procedures. On the transcript only the regular name showed up, so that was never a problem. Maybe it’s the same here?
37 rufus
Don’t remember the name of the artist but it was drawn for a Vimax commercial, at first. Then Nasa bought it from Vimax, wonder for what purpose, but the reasons were classified.
Great list, Dash. I have to say that as soon as I read the title, I knew all of the classes would be in the USA.
(nice picture that was used for it)
I would however, love to enroll in that phallus course. It doesn’t look like it would be short on info.
@Mrs Polidori (31): Took a similar class. It started after dark and the prof was dressed as a vampire. Weirdest course ever!
This list reminded me of this funny ‘Spring Bulletin’ college program description I came across recently:
Philosophy I: Everyone from Plato to Camus is read, and the following topics are covered:
Ethics: The categorical imperative, and six ways to make it work for you.
Aesthetics: Is art the mirror of life, or what?
Metaphysics: What happens to the soul after death? How does it manage?
Epistemology: Is knowledge knowable? If not, how do we know this?
The Absurd: Why existence is often considered silly, particularly for men who wear brown-and-white shoes. Manyness and oneness are studied as they relate to otherness. (Students achieving oneness will move ahead to twoness.)
Psychopathology: Aimed at understanding obsessions and
phobias, including the fear of being suddenly captured and stuffed with crabmeat, reluctance to return a volleyball serve, and the inability to say the word “mackinaw” in the presence of women. The compulsion to seek out the company of beavers is *****yzed.
Philosophy XXIX-B: Introduction to God. Confrontation with the Creator of the universe through informal lectures and field trips.
Economic Theory: A systematic application and critical evaluation of the basic *****ytic concepts of economic theory, with an emphasis on money and why it’s good. Fixed coefficient production functions, cost and supply curves, and nonconvexity comprise the first semester,
with the second semester concentrating on spending, making change, and keeping a neat wallet. The Federal Reserve System is *****yzed, and advanced students are coached in the proper method of filling out a deposit slip. Other topics include: Inflation and Depression—
how to dress for each. Loans, interest, welching.
The New Mathematics: Standard mathematics has recently been rendered obsolete by the discovery that for years we have been writing the numeral five backward. This has led to a reevaluation of counting as a method of getting from one to ten. Students are taught advanced concepts of Boolean Algebra, and formerly unsolvable equations are dealt with by threats of reprisals.
Fundamental Astronomy: A detailed study of the universe and its care and cleaning. The sun, which is made of gas, can explode at any moment, sending our entire planetary system hurtling to destruction; students are advised what the average citizen can do in such a case. They are also taught to identify various constellations, such as the Big Dipper, Cygnus the Swan, Sagittarius the Archer, and the twelve stars that form Lumides the Pants Salesman.
Yeats and Hygiene, A Comparative Study: The poetry of
William Butler Yeats is *****yzed against a background of proper dental care. (Course open to a limited number of students.)
@ChiGirl (38): That painting you are talking about is a painting of Priapus, the Greek god of fertility who often is depicted as having a gigantic (what I think is a term more approapriate) phallus. The painting was painted during Roman times & the artist is unknown.
Oh, by the way some Catholics are against the theory of evolution. I am a high school student and I am learning high school at a private Catholic school (A Philippine Catholic school is WAY different in so many ways than an American Catholic school). We had this creation vs. evolution debate (which I think is lacking at most American schools today) and almost 90% of the class took the creation side and I was in the evolution side with some of my classmates. Most of my classmates that took the creation side are Catholic. I told my classmates that the Catholic Church had never, in its history, attacked the idea of evolution, but they didn’t accept that fact that I told them. My theory is that the reason why this happened is because even though the Catholic Church here in the Philippines has a very powerful influence on the Filipino people, Filipinos seem to be too attached to the Protestant view on evolution (the reason for this is the large influence American culture has on Philippine society).
In short words, in the history of the Catholic Church, there was no evidence that the Church ever attacked the idea of evolution.
Sandra Cisneros, maybe?
“Nevertheless, a course on race which describes the whiteness of Barbie as unbearable seems incredibly unscientific. Wonder if this course was offered when a certain gentlemen named Barack Obama was roaming the corridors of this West Coast institution.”
What the hell does this even mean?
“The evolution debate may not have been decided…”
Um, it’s not a debate. The controversy remains only in the mind of fanatics.
Oh my God! They’ve found the missing link and moved evolution from a theory to a fact?
Where the hell have I been?
Idiot.
Many of these look far more interesting than some of the crap I snoozed through as an undergrad 30 years ago.
Hahaha! Funny list. My university became one of the first in the UK to offer a Degree in Happiness.
Hahaha, I have a friend at Occidental! I hope she’s enjoying her courses
This list almost makes me want to go back to college. Although I don’t think a Masters in “really weird courses” would get me anywhere in the workforce, but I’d kick (even more) ass at Jeopardy!
Yep this will prepare those kids for a lifetime on welfare.
My university offered a LEGO Robotics course. It was only for honors engineering students, but I always thought that was cool.
Lousy list that just plays into Right Wing anti-intellectualism. There *are* every so often weird little courses offered at colleges and universities–but very few of the courses on this list are examples of that.
As many of you know, I’ve worked in academia for much of my adult life. So shut up and listen to me on this, I’m an authority. (Seriously, I mean it, shut the f**k up). Now, the fact is that college profs face a lot of pressure, between justifying their research–and existence–and acquiring grant funding for said research–and for dealing with all the miasmic bull***** that comes with a people-oriented life of service; remember, these oftentimes anti-social PhDs are forced to play teacher and counselor to wave after wave of newly-post-adolescents… young adults with bubbling cauldrons of problems that soon turn any faculty who last long enough at the job into grizzled, cynical babysitters who’ve seen it all.
Okay, hard to feel sorry for people who trade a life of manual labor for chattering about Spinoza or drawing diagrams of thermodynamic reactions… but just bear in mind that they still need to justify themselves… and that includes, when coughing up an addition to the curriculum, that they corral some students into the classroom, lest the Chair of the department or the Dean come down on them in various unpleasant ways. (The life of a college prof is VERY political, and can be stressfully so). Now, many of them are honest, intellectual sorts who just want to further learning and the acquisition of knowledge amongst our sorry species. But many also recognize that to accomplish this goal, you have to “wow” people. So you come up with creative ideas for introducing intellectual discourse and discussion into the heads of their students, without reducing it to dry and boring academic hardtack. Nobody wants to eat hardtack.
The fact is that there are lots of people who go to college (and work in academia) because they want to THINK and LEARN–not JUST to get letters after their names that offers them a shot at a higher paying job. Not everything in life is practical or can be reduced to dollars and cents. Sometimes thinking and learning are abstract and esoteric in nature. Live with it.
Oh… and I’m familiar with Alfred College. It’s an Ag school, Dash. No *****, they teach about maple syrup there. Maple syrup production is BIG in Upstate New York. It’s no doubt a VERY practical course and surely teaches a valuable skill to future farmers and agriculturalists. Yup, sure sounds funny to mock an Ag school for offering an Ag course. Yuk yuk.
Humor should be funny, not just swing wildly at targets that don’t deserve it.
Amen, Randall. I wonder what the original poster would say if he knew I’d been hired by my university to lecture on video games?
I am guessing that most of these courses are electives or short seminars that students take not as their core subjects but just out of interest. I think it is a great idea, I would love to take the course on Zombies!
Lolololma o god im chokin on my coffee! Where in hell did the pic for num 1 come from! Thats freakin hilarious wit a capital H.
I really can’t see what’s wrong with #9, #7, #6 or #1… All seem more worthwhile than a Media Studies course.
Man, ***** Spanish, I’m changing my major to PHALLUS! This is gonna be the best class EVER!
Btw, some of these kinda make the South Harmon Institute of Technology sound legit, huh?
University of Oklahoma has an honors course on the Beatles. I hear it’s a good course and not all that easy. And it’s in the “honors” curriculum so it’s not open to slackers unless they have a high GPA.
@Randall (52):
It’d be awesome if all of academia were turned into ZOMBIES!!!
Zombie says, “Ahhhh…. gurgle… gurgle… moan… riiigghhtt wwiiinnnggggg cccooonnssppiirraaccccyyy… uuuhhhhh…. gurgle…. moan… ggooonnaaa eeeaaattt yyyooouuurrr bbrrraaiiinnnsss…. uuuhhhhhh…”