Principles of Organic and Biochemistry? Yawn! English Literature 101? An outdated snooze-fest! Differential Equations? That one is just begging to be skipped! Now that college students have the option to take classes on everything from zombies to garbage, gone are the days of choosing between Art History 1 and Art History 2 to round out a schedule. If society’s next great thinkers don’t have extensive knowledge of the literary canon, it might be because they were busy learning what soap operas say about gender roles. Here are some of the wackiest college courses—a few of which have us hankering to go back to school.
Underwater Basket Weaving
Once the fictional name given to college classes that required minimal participation in exchange for credits, Underwater Basket Weaving is now an actual class offered at University of California, San Diego, as well as at Rutgers. It stands to reason that this recreational class, in which students submerge grasses or wicker in water and then braid it together into baskets, is meant to get students to relax after they’ve spent a long week actually going to college.
Philosophy and Star Trek
“Star Trek is very philosophical.” This is the matter-of-fact statement that leads the course description of PHIL-180, Philosophy and Star Trek, at Georgetown University. The undergraduate course is advertised as an introduction to basic philosophical tenets surrounding metaphysics and epistemology, and Star Trek is the context for grappling with the existential imponderables that arise. In other words, without Star Trek, you’re never going to get a bunch of hungover freshmen to show up and care about Kierkegaard.
The Joy of Garbage
It might serve our society well if this course, offered at Santa Clara University, was required around the country rather than simply being a whimsically named elective at one California school. Instructor Virginia Matzek does not let her students shy away from what she calls “the yuck factor,” taking them to sewage treatment centers and landfills and any other place that deals with the business end of what we throw away. In this age of countless environmental controversies and problems, the more people who know about the way our waste is processed, the better off we all might be.
