This month's edition of the Reader's Digest lists five schools that offer classes for credit that put new meaning in the words "liberal arts." 1) How to Watch Television, Montclair (N.J.) State. 2) Advanced Stress Management, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. 3) The Horror Film, Xavier University, Ohio. 4) The Science of Harry Potter, Frostburg (Md.) State. 5) Getting Dressed, Princeton. How many can you add to the list?
Why bad? If you can offer a class on Film Noir, why not horror films? They are a legitimate film form. The same for Harry Potter. If a university can offer studies in every major writer, in all aspects of their novels, why not Harry? I've seen classes on "The Philosophy of Bronte" and "The Science in Star Trek."
1) How to Watch Television, Montclair (N.J.) State. This seems to be a beginning course in television criticism. Damn, I could get a load of life experience credit in this subject: http://www.montclair.edu/pages/insight/Insight03-31-03/Story5.html 2) Advanced Stress Management, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. This is a 1 unit experimental health education offering. Frankly, I think that it sounds like a valuable class: http://www.unlv.edu/pubs/Class_Schedule/experimental.html 3) The Horror Film, Xavier University, Ohio. I agree with Deb that horror films are no more inherently ridiculous than poetry. Xavier also offers film courses in western and detective genre films: http://www.xu.edu/registrar/course/comm.html 4) The Science of Harry Potter, Frostburg (Md.) State. This thing seems to a catchy hook on a course that treats science and magic: http://trw.umbc.edu/articles/4422 5) Getting Dressed, Princeton. This is a freshman seminar that treats clothing as a social force. If you doubt that it is, go down to the mall and see what all the stores are busy selling: http://www.princeton.edu/pr/pwb/01/1112/3a.shtml
I seem to remember that Steve Levicoff mentioned in the "Levicoff Portfolio" (in Bears' Guide 15) that some school offered a course called "The Films of Keanu Reeves". That gets my vote.
Great RA universities too. Where is the uproar? Maybe some pigeons can get some credits there too...what ya say G. B.
You know what they say about glass houses... I would suggest "Sexual Homicide" from Regis University. I hope they don't offer a portfolio option on that one. Perhaps that "Advanced Stress Management" course doesn't sound so absurd at all, eh?
Re: Why bad? It really wasn't my intention to start a great debate over whether these classes are a valid genre of study; rather, it was intended as a "just for fun" thread. I agree that anything can be made into a college class and studied; however, the classes mentioned are not exactly "run of the mill" course offerings.
If you are taking this thread way too seriously, may I suggest enrolling in the class, Advanced Stress Management.
Georgetown offered (and maybe still does) an English course titled "Westerns and Gangster Movies". You could take it to fulfill 3 of your 6 credit hours English requirement. I seem to remember that course being extremely popular. Jon
Re: Re: Why bad? If I were feeling cranky (and I almost always am), I'd say any class whose title has the word 'postmodern' in it is almost guaranteed to be absurd. But if I were feeling benevolent, I'd say that popular culture, including things like television, clothing styles and popular film genres, are important and valuable subjects for scholarly attention. Universities shouldn't spend all of their time pursuing the rare and the exotic. They need to devote some attention to the common and the mundane, precisely because everyday things are what concern most of the people most of the time. According to the A.C. Nielsen Co., the average American watches more than four hours of television each day. Do the math and... a 65-year-old will have spent nine years glued to the tube. Of course, the authors of some of these classes obviously realized how their course titles sounded and intentionally embraced it. I mean, the class titles "Getting Dressed" or "How to Watch Television" had to have been chosen with a smile. It drew some sarcasm, but it also got their classes noticed and got them those articles in the campus magazines.
I would have to say that Jim Harrick's "Coaching Principles and Strategies of Basketball" with its now infamous final exam fell into this category.