It seems like every year we hear about a multitude of bizarre college courses to the point where it is hard to believe an institution of higher learning would even offer them — and this year was no exception.
Let’s look at five of the most ridiculous courses offered in 2015.
1.) “Politicizing Beyoncé” (Rutgers University)
This course is offered by Rutgers’ Department of Women’s and Gender Studies. According to its professor, Kevin Allred, “This isn’t a course about Beyoncé’s political engagement or how many times she performed during President Obama’s inauguration weekend. Rather, the performer’s music and career are used as lenses to explore American race, gender, and sexual politics. Allred pairs Beyoncé’s music videos and lyrics with readings from the Black feminist canon, including the writings of bell hooks, Alice Walker, and even abolitionist Sojourner Truth.”
2.) “Wasting Time on the Internet” (University of Pennsylvania)
This past spring, the Ivy League University of Pennsylvania offered this English course about wasting time online, which involved, among other assignments, watching porn during class. One student told The College Fix that there was no final exam for the class and final projects were optional. However, according to the course description, “Distraction, multi-tasking, and aimless drifting is mandatory.”
3.) “Zombies in Popular Media” (Columbia College, Chicago)
According to Chicago hip hop station B96 (operated by CBS Radio Inc.):
…America loves zombies after the premiere of Fear The Walking Dead. “This course explores the history, significance, and representation of the zombie as a figure in horror and fantasy texts. Instruction follows an intense schedule, using critical theory and source media (literature, comics, and films) to spur discussion and exploration of the figure’s many incarnations.” Alright, I guess this is kind of legit if you want to write literature or make movies.
4.) “#SelfieClass” (University of Southern California)
This course claimed to examine gender norms, race and ethnicity through selfies. “The more interesting ones deliberately challenge conventions or templates of a beautiful face and body, and really try to show something broader about who you are as a person, about how your identity can be about performance or politics or changing norms,” said Alison Trope, clinical professor at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. “As this kind of use of the selfie travels via networks and social media, it can potentially take on a kind of cultural and collective power.”
This fall, Indiana University Northwest also offered a 400-level “Mass Communications and Culture” class all about selfies.
5.) “Learning from YouTube” (Pitzer College)
Taught by Media Studies professor Alex Juhasz, “the ground rules were simple and few. All the classwork and assignments (reading, writing, viewing and video production) occurred on and about YouTube. Juhasz and her class caught the attention of the news media and were featured in numerous newspaper articles as well as television and radio broadcasts.”
The ridiculousness will no doubt continue in 2016, with courses such as “Introduction to Fat Studies,” which will be taught next semester at the University of Maryland, College Park. Campus Reform reported the class, “will not engage ‘fatness’ as a social or medical problem, according to a syllabus for the course posted online. Instead, the course will approach fatness as ‘an aspect of human diversity, experience, and identity.’”
