Comments (52)

1. My university offers one called the anthropology of Sci-Fi Literature (hasn’t been offered in a year or two, but there’s plan for a run for it next year, iirc)

   I think that the purpose for these courses is not so much to focus on that individual topic, but to use the topic to explore much broader themes, and to allow students who might be intimidated by, say, sociology or algebra to find some approachable way to it.

   My brother took Comedy Writing as a major at Humber College.

   (Interesting: The captcha today is Total Laurier, which is interesting, because I’m at Wilfrid Laurier University)

   posted by Lerren on 10-2-2008 at 2:34 pm

2. My college offered a course on family development but it ended up being a course about how to make a marriage work. Yeah, I’m still single.

   posted by Tricia on 10-2-2008 at 2:55 pm

3. last year i took a course called “why grandpa went to war” here at the university of michigan, and it was a small seminar taught by a world war 2 veteran who brought in other guests every week who had been alive back then to talk about their experiences during the war. we heard from pilots, pows, commanders, and even a man from ethiopia who was five years old when the italians came tearing through his village.
   odd course, good stuff.
   twas a bit sad to think that ten years from now all those speakers will be dead. :(

   posted by marty on 10-2-2008 at 2:58 pm

4. I took a great comparative literature course at my college (Hamilton College) called “Buffy & The Gothic Tradition,” which used Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes alongside classics of Gothic literature (Dracula, Turn of the Screw, etc.) to explore Gothic literary conventions and themes.

   posted by Caro on 10-2-2008 at 3:00 pm

5. my college had a basic writing course that most freshmen had to take, which was usually taught by grad students who got to teach writing through the lens of whatever topic they wanted. You had lots of writing courses on reality TV, sports, pop music from the 70s, whatever nerdy hobby the TA had.

   posted by MS on 10-2-2008 at 3:02 pm

6. A couple of years ago, my college (Syracuse University) offered a class called “Hip-Hop Eshu: Queen Bitch 101″ which was about the life and times of Lil Kim…I also actually took a class called Television of the 80′s and 90′s which followed the television drama from Hill Street Blues through to The Sopranos (it was an awesome class!)

   posted by Kristin on 10-2-2008 at 3:06 pm

7. My college offers a course that involves learning to canoe in the campus swimming pool, and then going down an actual river once a semester. The class takes up 3 hours twice a week. I can’t imagine anyone wanting to learn how to canoe that badly.

   posted by Katie on 10-2-2008 at 3:06 pm

8. Fundamental Human Communication.

   You’d think with a name like that, it’d be easy, right? It was the “weed out” course for Auburn University’s Communications program. 70% of the people who took it, had to take it again.

   posted by Stuart on 10-2-2008 at 3:09 pm

9. “The Whiteness of Blackness” at Eugene Lang College. Good times. Good times.

   posted by Saida33 on 10-2-2008 at 3:13 pm

10. AT UMass Amherst i took a class called jogging and conditioning. We played dodgeball the entire time.

    posted by Jamie on 10-2-2008 at 3:19 pm

11. I didn’t take the class so I don’t remember the course title but it was something like Global Film or World Theatres…something along those lines. Every week, they’d watch a foreign film (french comedies, bollywood, Mexican dramas…very eclectic) and get “quizzed” (they’d be given the answers. The teacher was really chill – he did that because he had to give a letter grade but he was more interested in the films). How do I know all this? I sneaked INTO the class occasionally. That’s right, into the class. And I wasn’t the only one.

    posted by gabi on 10-2-2008 at 3:26 pm

12. My college offers a class called Religion, Harry Potter, and Fantasy Fiction. A few semesters ago they also offered writing classes on the Simpsons, Nine Inch Nails, and Coen Brothers movies.

    posted by Becca on 10-2-2008 at 3:35 pm

13. Wheaton college (MA, not IL!) offers a few unconventional classes. I took Sexuality in American History where we discussed the role of abortion, lesbians, cross-dressers, prostitutes, etc. in American culture (it was actually a very challenging and demanding class). Our catch phrase was “Everything always comes back to prostitution.” (There’s also a bunch of psych and/or women’s studies courses focused on sex/sexuality.)
    What else? The German department offers an entire class on Kafka and there’s a Children’s literature class where you read/analyze children’s stories. They offer a few “field classes,” too (taken in January) including “Music traditions of Trinidad & Tobago” (went to T&T to study Soca/calypso/pan music – this was awesome!), “Tropical Field Biology” (go to Costa Rica/Belize to study rain forests and coral reefs), a South Africa/Botswana “African-ness” trip, a Buddhism class in Bhutan, and I think a few more.
    There’s also an English professor, Josh Stenger, who is known for his intense but awesome film classes: Hollywood Film since 1970, Hollywood Genres, Race & Racism in US Cinema, Sexual politics of Film Noir, Cinema and the City, etc.

    Oh yes, and the country’s leading expert on JRR Tolkien, Michael Drout, teaches at Wheaton (obviuosly about Tolkien). He’s apparently awesome as a prof and a person.

    =( I wish I was still able to take some of these classes! Graduation day came too soon!

    posted by Bri on 10-2-2008 at 3:47 pm

14. Sometimes, Education classes have silly titles, even if the content is legitimate. I’ve taken “The fundamentals of Arithmetic” and “Play in childhood”

    posted by Nathan R on 10-2-2008 at 3:48 pm

15. I’m currently taking a course called “Creating Barbarians: Greek self-definition against the Ancient Middle East.” It’s actually one of my favorite classes.

    When I tell people I’m in “Creating Barbarians,” they usually give me a blank stare, and I have to add “..it’s a history class.”

    posted by scoobnut on 10-2-2008 at 3:59 pm

16. CSUMB offers so interesting classes. Once I remember seeing a course focusing on Anime and Manga.
    But here are some current offerings:
    TAT 216: Between Movies and Games (exploring the relationships of the two)
    Social and Behavioral Science 231: Crime and Violence Lab: “Introduces students to a holistic, interdisciplinary approach to dealing with interpersonal violence and crime…” by teaching martial arts.
    We also have disc golf and Traditional Chinese Lion dancing offered as physical education courses.

    posted by LIz on 10-2-2008 at 4:03 pm

17. My (former) college, UC Berkeley, has a program called Democratic Education at Cal, or DeCal. It lets students design and run their own classes on almost any topic. In the past there have been classes on the philosophy of the Simpsons, drugs and the human brain (I knew the guy who taught it – he was way into the research), and zombie film appreciation. I’m sure this year’s courses are just as crazy.

    posted by Kathryn on 10-2-2008 at 4:07 pm

18. When I was in college (American University) I took a pilot class called “Six Degrees of Separation: Social Networking for Business”. Among other things, some of our assignments were to keep a blog and to play Second Life.

    It was such a hit it’s become a regular class!

    posted by Sarah on 10-2-2008 at 4:13 pm

19. At the University of Wisconsin I took a comparative lit class called “The tales of Hans Christian Anderson”. A whole semester of fairy tales. It was great.

    posted by Allie on 10-2-2008 at 5:02 pm

20. At St. Mary’s College of Maryland, I’m taking a class in Wolof language as i prepare to spend the spring semester in The Gambia, West Africa. A language course isn’t that weird but learning a language that is spoken by only some of the people in the smallest country in Africa (The Gambia is almost 2x the size of Delaware) might not have too many applications after college.

    posted by Elizabeth on 10-2-2008 at 5:05 pm

21. Last semester at the University of Pittsburgh I took a class entitled “Vampire: Blood and Empire.” One of the textbooks was – I kid you not – Interview With A Vampire by Anne Rice. We also watched movies like Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Nosferatu. I took it as a throw-away class, but ended up really enjoying it.

    Pitt also offers a course called Science Fiction: East Meets West, which I took the previous semester. I watched The Matrix and Alien for college credit. Both courses are offered through Pitt’s Slavic department, which I understand is one of the few SLAV programs in the country.

    posted by dying alive on 10-2-2008 at 5:20 pm

22. Cal Poly Pomona, …getting a buzz and getting college credit for it.

    -Taken from Catalog-
    HRT 315: Wines, Beers, and spirits
    The study of wine grapes, winemaking,
    and the evaluation of wine. Also
    includes initiation into the study of beermaking
    and the distillation of spirits.
    A thorough examination of the major wine grape varieties and worldwide
    appellations where they are grown. History, geography, economics, health
    and legal issues, as well as a thorough evaluation of wine and food. Wine and food in the business setting. Minimum age of
    student must be 21 years.

    posted by EnvEng on 10-2-2008 at 5:20 pm

23. i cant remember the name of the class, but it was something like “Literature of war,” in which we basically just watched war movies and read books and plays about war. it actually ended up being one of my favorite classes in college (illinois state university)

    posted by /Andy on 10-2-2008 at 5:25 pm

24. rad classes have included: Literature of the Apocalypse, the Philosophy of Rock and Roll (which was about half composed of Red Hot Chili Peppers lectures, my prof was obsessed with them), and Forest Mensuration – which sounds dirty, but’s just measuring trees basically.

    posted by ian on 10-2-2008 at 5:51 pm

25. I went to Pitt and took both those classes too. They were great.

    posted by Niki on 10-2-2008 at 6:20 pm

26. Two classes I took at the University of San Diego (a private catholic school):
    Death & Dying
    The Problem of God

    Ironically my first day of class for both was 09/11/01 – I didn’t go.

    Both of them were logic based and turned out to be really intersting!

    posted by Tiffany on 10-2-2008 at 6:22 pm

27. we had a course in industrial microbiology, which ended up being about cheese and beer. At the final exam, the prof just came in, handed us the question sheet and got out, saying when you are done leave it wherever. Once he left the whole class divided into groups, answered questions in bullet point on the blackboard, which then everyone wrote down !!!

    posted by G.G. on 10-2-2008 at 7:17 pm

28. My freshman seminar course at Southeast Missouri State University was Rock and Roll and the Revolution.

    posted by Sara on 10-2-2008 at 7:26 pm

29. When I was in undergrad THE go-to course at Auburn was Organic Gardening. EVERYONE took it. It was a total gimme class and was so popular it was taught in an auditorium instead of a lecture hall. The best part was that the prof had an imaginary friend called “Pop Quiz Man” and he would mime being forced (at gunpoint) into giving us quizzes to gauge attendance. Such fond memories…

    posted by dara on 10-2-2008 at 9:05 pm

30. During my senior year in Bemidji State in MN, a few classes in the catalogue caught my eye…(Don’t remember the exact subject code and all)

    - A class about Lord of the Rings
    - Blogs and Wikis
    - History of Writing (pretty easy class)
    - Techniques of Relaxation (classes were in the dance studio lying down on mattresses as well as taking notes and such)
    - History of Rock and Roll

    I didn’t have time to take all those classes, though it might’ve been fun…

    posted by synical on 10-2-2008 at 9:43 pm

31. Wellesley College (an all female college) offered a sociology class last semester called “Masculinities.” It was co-taught by a two men and had the largest enrollment of any sociology class I’ve taken at Wellesley. I think they are planning on offering it again. It was pretty interesting, but slightly awkward at times since the class was all women.

    This semester there is a class on the Physics of Marine Mammals. I’m not taking it.

    posted by Kate on 10-2-2008 at 10:23 pm

32. my second semester of college i took a class called walking. just one foot in front of the other walking

    posted by beth on 10-2-2008 at 10:35 pm

33. My school (Kenyon College) is offering a course this year entitled “The Anthropology of Borat”. I think that speaks for itself.

    posted by Lindsay on 10-2-2008 at 10:52 pm

34. From UC Irvine:

    Why People Believe Weird Things
    So, You Want to Be a Star?
    Drawing for Absolute Beginners! (I love the exclamation point)
    Educating Instead of Medicating in Public Health
    Mathematics of Num3ers
    How to Succeed in College

    and there are way more from past years…

    posted by Harlequin on 10-3-2008 at 1:33 am

35. At Virginia Tech I took a Sex Ed class. While it may be common amongst other universities, it seems ridiculous that someone who is at minimum 18 years old needs to be taught sex education. We mostly spent the class looking at slide shows of abnormal sexual organs (bent penises, androgynous genitalia, etc.) and talking about fetishes. Easiest A I ever made!

    posted by Joel on 10-3-2008 at 7:24 am

36. I was enrolled in a course at the University of Oklahoma called “Beatles Seminar.” We read the book “Can’t Buy Me Love,” a terrific read if you are into the Beatles at all. We were required to attend a Beatles Tribute Concert (1964 the show). The class was a blast!

    posted by Ted on 10-3-2008 at 8:47 am

37. As a student at UGA, I took “History of Sexuality in America,” “Religion in Popular Culture” (where we read Stephen King, Harry Potter, the DaVinci Code, and watched a couple Kaufman movies), and “Tolkien in Medeival Studies,” where we read old Norse and Anglo-Saxon sagas and pointed out exactly where Tolkien stole all his character names and ideas from… and usually had a very geeky grad student quoting LotR verbatim at least once a class.

    posted by Amelia on 10-3-2008 at 8:56 am

38. At Franklin and Marshall College:

    Narrative and Group Identity: The Vikings

    and

    The Culture of Chocolate

    posted by Jennifer on 10-3-2008 at 9:04 am

39. I graduated from Boston University a few years ago, but my favorite class freshman year was: “American Popular Culture: Film and Humor”

    We watched the Marx Brothers, Dr. Strangelove, and the Blues Brothers. In lieu of a final exam, one student did a standup routine in front of the whole class. It was my most fun class ever.

    posted by Adina B. on 10-3-2008 at 9:26 am

40. My alma mater, Western Kentucky University, offers a beer and home brewing class. Don’t get your hopes up though. To avoid the perennial frat boy invasion every year, students must have a more than adequate GPA, requires an in-depth knowledge of science, and includes a sizable reading every week.

    The class strives to “illuminate both the rich history and science of beer and brewing through lectures reading and lab work.” (from the syllabus)

    posted by Alex on 10-3-2008 at 9:42 am

41. I took “Fitness Walking” at Penn State. Our tests consisted of two timed walks around a track where we had to walk a mile in 20 minutes. After a rough night out, a friend of mine passed her timed walk by having us practically carry her for the last lap around the track. Definitely the easiest class that I’ve had being that I did more actual walking in just going from class to class than in that class.

    posted by James on 10-3-2008 at 10:07 am

42. At CU Denver, I took a Children’s Literature course. It was an easy excuse to read Harry Potter for the first time.

    They also offered a course called God Goes to the Movies. We watched the Exorcist, Life of Brian, and Bedazzled. It was an easy A.

    posted by Bethany on 10-3-2008 at 10:09 am

43. At Washington & Lee University in the late 80s early 90s, the English department offered a Fantasy and SF class, where we read medieval romance, Tolkien, CS Lewis, and Ursula K. LeGuin. I took it as a freshman, and later presented part of my honor’s thesis to the class as a senior.

    posted by Tim on 10-3-2008 at 10:38 am

44. My wife is teaching a course at Wilmington University called “The Philosophy of Love.” We are currently doing research… ;-)

    posted by VersoFolio on 10-3-2008 at 10:39 am

45. I’m pretty sure it carries across the entire CSU system, but at SDSU I took “Natural Disasters” as part of our required upper-division general ed. Maybe not as quirky as some of the others, but it was all death and destruction, all the time. Also, it was consistently voted the most popular class on campus, from my understanding.

    posted by Gudrun on 10-3-2008 at 10:42 am

46. There is a class at a community college in my area called “Dinosaurs!”

    I want to take it just for the exclamation point.

    posted by natalie on 10-3-2008 at 4:36 pm

47. I know this isn’t really odd at all, but I’m currently taking a class called Lost Cities and Ancient Civilizations. Ancient Civilizations is pretty standard college fare, but the addition of Lost Cities just makes me think of Indiana Jones. Also, for some reason I was convinced this class would be about Atlantis. (Guess what? It isn’t.)

    posted by Ana on 10-3-2008 at 9:46 pm

48. One of the cool classes that UF offers (though I haven’t taken) is called “The Tao of Star Trek”

    posted by Mike on 10-4-2008 at 9:51 pm

49. James, I also took the walking class at Penn State. It was a great way for us non-athletes to still get the phys ed credits we needed. What a joke, though, since I walked everywhere anyway!

    posted by Rachel on 10-5-2008 at 9:54 am

50. I’m a senior at the University of Delaware and about 2 or 3 years ago there was major press about a class called “The Philosophy of South Park”- the professor wrote a book about it and everything.

    I, however, don’t know anyone who has taken it, nor do I even know when it is offered. sigh.

    posted by Laura on 10-6-2008 at 12:02 am

51. I don’t go to the university but I checked their online catalog and UC Merced offers “Material Culture”, which “examines the role that material objects play in human social relations, identity, and economy”.

    “History of Ethnic Costume”: Survey of ethnic costume across the globe.

    “Hispanic/Latino Children’s Literature and Film”: Explores Latino/Hispanic children’s literature and film from theoretical and cultural perspectives

    “Writing for Engineering”: Intensive practice in the presentation of technical subject matter

    Alot of the courses are specific to this area like the multitude of farming related classes and the fact that we are close to the Sierras (“Mountain Hydrology of the Western United States”).

    posted by Sarah on 1-18-2009 at 6:11 pm

52. I looked through my brother’s Salisbury course catalog the other night, and they have a course a course on Chaucer that’s taught in Middle English, (“Study of representative works by the 14th century poet Chaucer, taught in their originial language, Middle English, with a special emphasis on the Canterbury Tales.”)

    They also have a course entirely dedicated to German short stories. (Really: It’s just called German Short Stories.)

    posted by Devon on 8-26-2011 at 7:47 am

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