What are the Strangest College Classes We Desperately Want to Take?

and does account for credit. I mean, it's more for fun, but I love that you can actually learn the skill.

And actually I read this note from a student defending it, where he was saying basically that in this a d h D world where we look at our phones every three seconds, and you know, we need to constantly be stimulated by technology and being forced to concentrate on basket weaving in a pool with your face stuffed into a snorkel, that that was actually good for both his patients and concentration,

and it also reduced his anxiety. I kind of like this defense, and I mean, I think that's kind of the point, right, Like, when you start looking around, there's so many of these quirky classes being taught around the country, and many of them are way more valuable than you inc So I thought today would be a great time to spotlight some of the weirdest classes we could find.

What do you say? We dive in? Heay their podcast listeners, Welcome to Part Time Genius and Will Pearson And as always I'm joined by my good friend man guest I've taken up and we're so happy to welcome back our producer Tristan. He's a super important part of this show and he's been out for a few days, but we're very glad he's back. Well, speaking of back, it is back to school time, and to be honest, we're a

little bit jealous. I mean, there's all these weird college classes out there, and we wish we could take them all. I mean, maybe not all of them, but definitely way more than we'd ever be able to. But that doesn't mean we can't talk about them. So that's what we're gonna do today. We'll also talk to a couple of daring professors who spearheaded some pretty unique courses of their own. So who's on the line today? Mego, yeah, So we've got Kenneth Goldsmith, the poet and professor at the University

of Pennsylvania. Kenneth actually teaches two unusual classes. One's called Uncreative Writing and the others titled Wasting time on the Internet. And we'll have some wonderful quizzes too. All right, Well, before we dive in, we want to hear from you listeners. Let us know the weirdest college class you ever took, or the one offered at your school that you always wish you'd taken but maybe didn't get a chance to.

So send that into part time genius at how stuff works dot com or hit us up on Facebook or Twitter, or you can call us on our fancy new fact hotline one eight four four pt genius. So we look forward to hearing from you, and of course we'll be sending some swag to the top three entries, so we're really looking forward to that. All right, great, alright, So fair warning to any listeners who haven't perused the college course catalog in a while. You need to prepare to

be jealous. I mean, these catalogs have expanded in some wild directions over the past decade or so, and the result is this mortgage board of strange and quirky classes that you know, they kind of bring new meaning to

the term liberal education. But I remember like some house courses that people used to teach even back when we were in college, Like during spring break, you could take this course called just Enough Guitar to Impress someone and and by the end of the class you learned to play something that sounds impressive but actually isn't that hard,

like Tangerine LEDs up. But I I agree with you, these courses tend to stray pretty far from the core curriculum, but that definitely doesn't mean that they're all together silly or or that their merit lists, although trying to sell your parents on the worth of them might be another story, right, you know, Because we want to cover as many of

these weird courses as we could. Mango and I actually split up our research for this episode, so we found the most interesting surprising courses we could across, you know, a few few different broad categories. So we'll share our findings and see if we can build our own ideal course load for the fall semester. So, so where do you want to start? Mango? So I want to skip straight to the mouth watering food classes because they're the most fun. And the first one we're gonna start with

is from Alfred University. It's called maple Syrup, the real Thing, the real like that day they're throwing there And wait, isn't that the coke slogan? Though? Yeah, but this stuff is genuine thing. And the fact is that some senators from Vermont and Main have actually introduced legislation that would make it a felony offense to sell fake maple syrup. So the stakes are actually pretty high. But the class

sounds fascinating. It covers the history of maple syrup production and that spans from traditional methods to some of the more cutting edge harvesting methods that are used today. And students also get to take field trips to restaurants and local syrup producers, and they even get to go to a maple syrup festival. So but but the best part of the best part of all of this is that every student gets to create and eat their own maple syrup. I mean, it does sound like a lot of fun.

And you know, I'm a total sucker for a good course description. Like in college, I almost took organic chemistry just because the class promised that um that you get to make something that's the scent of pairs, like you get to manufacture that in the lab. And and I'm terrible at chemistry, but I like pairs. I love how you felt for that with organic chemistry, which is maybe like the hardest class or the we eat out class in college. But anyway, what did you learn about maple syrup? So?

You know, I couldn't resist looking up some more facts about maple syrup. So here are a few facts from my new favorite website, cottage Life. Yeah you want to shut up about this one, I know. The first one is that of the world's maple syrup actually comes from Canada. So that surprises me. I mean, I feel like, you know, you always hear about Vermont's maple syrup that I wouldn't have guessed that that larger percentage came from I feel like Vermont is always bragging about it, but Canadas, so

they're king. Yeah, I guess so and and and it takes forty years for a tree to actually become ready to tap. And then once it's ready, it takes about forty liters of sap just to make one leader of syrup, which is crazy. That is crazy. So I mean that's a pretty serious long term investment to be able to get anything. So you said, forty years before they can get any syrup from this, which is which is why class is a good idea, right Can you imagine just

diving into the business without knowing about it. But back to the college classes. There are actually a ton of classes out there that deal with the history of production and of specific foods and drinks, and so for example, St. Mary's College of California offers a course on the science behind craft beer and brewing it. And Purdue University in Indiana has this wine appreciation class that helps students develop their palates. All right, wait, so let me make this clear.

So California has the beer class and the Midwest has the wine appreciation class. I know, it almost seems backwards, right, but in fact, there are a lot of California schools that offer courses on the business of wine making. But produced class is purely about appreciating the wine. But for all the listeners out there, like, it's only open to

students who are twenty one or older. So for anyone who's going to college there, they've got to pay their dues before getting the indulge into weekly wines and things. Yeah that makes sense, alright, So the maple syrup classes a little lot, and the beer and wine classes would definitely make your parents take a second look at your course load. But what would you say as the food

class that you found the most surprising? So Penn State's College of Agricultural Studies has a course that's all about ice cream making. Oh wow, all right, well, what's the scoop on that? So the course is actually called I said, what's the scoop? Just making sure? The course is actually called the ice Cream Short Course. And it's this seven day long class that's open to industry professionals as well

as students. Basically, people come from all over the world to take part in a bunch of workshops that teach them about the different aspects of ice cream and you know the technology used to make it. But the really crazy thing is just how long the class has been going on for. Hence State has been offering it every January for the last six years. Oh wow, seriously, Yeah, it's crazy. So, in fact, it's very likely the first

continuing ed course ever offered in the US. It first started back in two when the School of Agricultural held this uh dairy manufacturing class in the winter and this is courting the school. This is when farm work is least pressing and the boys can be spared. Is that really what it says, the boys can be spared? That kind of sounds like an ad for like a group that likes to go without underwear. They commando grew anyway,

So sorry. Ice cream making was was always part of the curriculum, but by the Frozen treat became so popular in the US that the course exclusively focused on ice cream. And so so you've got to figure in this time, reps from every major ice cream place and started taking the course. So you've got good humor. Baskin Robbins, Ample Hills, Bluebell Hog and does. It's like a finishing course for every ice cream maker in the country, even Ben and

Jerry's they learned their craft there. That's quite a crew that's been there. Well, did you find any other food classes that were kind of like that, you know, a bit more prestigious, but it still a little bit weird. Yeah, definitely. But before we get to any of that, I've got

to share at least one more ice cream factor. So did you know in nineteen seven, Fidel Castro was so threatened by Baskin Robbins and the fact that America had thirty one flavors of ice cream that he bragged that Cuba was already producing twenty six flavors and they'd soon be producing for I love the ramp up that he didn't just say they had more, that they really were working towards this goal. I know, if I understand why, like eleven more flavors makes Cuba like a superior society

is pretty intimidating. Hey, he said they were gonna put America to shame. But back to your question, and this one is maybe my favorite class of this whole food category. It's called gastro Diplomacy and it's offered at American University in Washington, d C. It's this really neat course based around the idea that food can be used to help increase cultural understanding between countries. Oh wow, well that's pretty interesting.

I mean, especially when you consider that for a lot of Americans, you know that the most personal interaction they'll ever have with some foreign cultures really is through the cuisine they might try at their own home. Yeah, so, Public Diplomacy Magazine which I mean, we were in the magazine business with Metal Plus for fifteen years and I've

never heard of it, but now I'm totally hooked. They did a study a few years back where they surveyed a hundred forty people about eating other cultures cuisine, and more than half the respondents said that eating a foreign country's food lead them to think more positively about that country. So you know, it's true. The way to people's hearts, it really is through their stomach. Well, I like that idea. And how exactly though, does this translate into a college class. Yeah,

I was curious about that too. But the students study wars and conflicts, so they might look at the Vietnam War, or Ethiopia Civil war are or the Soviet War in Afghanistan, And then they actually take field trips to local ethnic restaurants, you know, so they can actually taste traditional meals from these cultures and even get some face time with immigrants who prepare them. It's pretty awesome. And the instructor and

Mendelssohn Foreman said, I've got this quote. The ideas for students to hear from the cooks, from the owners of these places about how they see their cuisine as a communication tool in their own communities. I think this one might be my favorite too. That that's that's pretty cool, all right, Well, do you have any others in that category? No,

I think that covers it. Well, let's switch gears now from a course that challenges students to look outward at the people they share the world with, too, one that does the exact opposite. So I'm guessing you're talking about that selfie class you were telling me about earlier. Is indeed that one? All right? So this course falls into one of the broad categories I looked into, and that these were classes that examine the use of social media

and digital technologies. And the first one is commonly referred to as the selfie class, but it's more formally known as Writing and Critical Reasoning Identity and diversity, and it's you know, it's part social studies, part writing workshop, and one of the courses assignments challenges students to take five selfies of themselves and then write an essay on how the selfies produced or obscured a sense of their identities.

You know, it's a pretty thoughtful course actually, Like the students are encouraged to consider every aspect of their pictures, whether it's how they're posing their clothing, their facial expression, the lighting and background, even the gaze and the camera angle, and so actually here a few questions. The students were asked to think about what in your selfies is accurate? What is obscured or ambiguous? Does the image portray one identity trait more than others? How is the viewer addressed

in the image? What is the apparent context of this image? I mean, it's it's so philosophical. Can you imagine if Instagram or Snapchat made this the assignment that before you hit the published button, that everyone has to write an essay exactly. I love it and and I also love things that don't sound that smart on the service and then end up being so much deeper, and taking selfies is like perfect. It's like the simple act of vanity.

But but it's fun to think about what it actually says about ourselves, right, right, And it's a crazy phenomenon. So Google reports that more than twenty four billion selfies were uploaded in two thousand and fifteen, and that number only seems to be growing every single year. So did you come across any other courses that do this, you know,

look at some of our questionable digital habits. Well, there's an interesting course at a pits or college called Learning from YouTube, and it was designed to evaluate what YouTube can teach us, you know, given that so many of its videos or someone educational and it's in their nature and you know, how to videos or video essays about the philosophy of popular movies or TV shows. And one of the weirdest things about it, though, is that all of the coursework was not only about YouTube, it was

actually on YouTube. So the classes were all recorded and posted on the site, and all the students essays were done in the form of videos and the comments on those videos. That sounds super fun. Like when I was in school, I always tried to do the project to get out of doing the right But is there an advantage to that style of learning? Well maybe. Unsurprisingly, students determine that YouTube isn't all that great for learning, or at least not in the big classroom way that we're

used to. It was. It was daunting for them to have all their classes and homework on public display where commoners and trolls could ridicule them, and they basically concluded that YouTube can be a decent educational tool on an individual basis, but it's much less useful in a communal setting and probably works best just as a means of entertainment.

That's fascinating. So I actually remember visiting one of my best friends who I thought was pretty handy, but then he suddenly put a whole new roof on his house by himself, and I asked her, like, how did you do that? How do you know what to do? And he said YouTube, he learned how to. I hope the

roof is still work. It was follow up on that, but it's amazing all the information that's out there and like all this step by step instruction, but also you know, to know where YouTube's failings are really interesting to think about it too. Did you find a new media classes

that seemed, I don't know, a little more practical. Well, yeah, I mean there's stuff like there's one called smartphone photography at Portland Community College, and I'm sure there are other colleges that that teach this as well, and you know, basically teaches about the composition and lighting for the cameras that we're all carrying around in our pockets. And and I suppose that's useful at least the kind of skill.

And for me, you know, the most compelling course in this category was definitely Kenneth Goldsmith's Wasting Time on the Internet. And we actually have him here to talk with us today. What do you say we get him on the line. I love No, let's do it. Our guest today is a poet and in fact the first poet Laureate of the Museum of Modern Art. He's an author of several books, but the one we're focused on today is called Wasting Time on the Internet, and it's based on a course

he's taught at the University of Pennsylvania. Kenneth Goldsmith, Welcome to part time genius. I'm glad to be here. So, Kenneth, I was reading the first part of your of your book Wasting Time on the Internet, and I saw that you were talking about this tweet that you you put out in the Fall of tooth Ius and fourteen were you announced this new course and the tweet said, my class called Wasting Time on the Internet will be offered at pen next semester. And apparently this tweet just kind

of blew up. Tell us what happened after you sent this tweet out well, you know, I mostly got a return tweet saying, you know, I've got a PhD in that. You know, it kind of went slightly viral, and you know the way things go on Twitter. I got a request from uh, the Washington Post for an interview, which I gave UH and it was published shortly thereafter, and then I think maybe another one for Vice. And I

didn't give too many other interviews about it. But what starts to happen is that these UH news sources get cannibalized by lesser fish and they go down the food chain. UH. And each time it's like a giant game of telephone. My facts get more and more twisted. As a matter of fact, a lot of people were simply cutting and pasting what had been written before slapping a new headline on it, changing the first sentence, and then posting it

as their own original content. Finally, at the end of the chain of telephone, about a month later, evidently a professor named Kevin Goldberg at Penn State was giving away PhDs in wasting time on the Internet. That's pretty funny, So would you tell us a little bit about the class and what actually takes place in it? The promise the classes. This fIF team people get together in a room with all the technology that they can possibly muster, and we waste time together. And that's the only thing

that I require from the students. There's no papers being written, there's no nothing other than to actually be together in this room, wasting time on the Internet together. And what do you discover from that? I discovered the contrary to the popular idea that technology separates us, in fact, when we put technology in the room with us as a group, technology tends to act as amplifiers of emotion and affect. Uh.

It becomes a hyper emotional space driven by technology. So when we waste time on the Internet, we normally waste time, you know, at a Starbucks or library, and we're alone and we're feeling lonely. But once you begin to put those machines into a room with people who can actually talk to each other, some real magic happens. Now. I saw some of the assignments that you gave up made

students a bit nervous at first. You know, one of them was you know that they could um basically take the laptop of another class member and look up anything that they wanted to on that person's computer. Any files, any documents, anything like that, and then they passed the laptop along to the next person and looked at another laptop. And whether it was that or another assignment, I think I saw was that the class together was us to start some sort of rumor and then spread that rumor.

So with these sorts of assignments, which do sound really interesting, did did you ever run into any trouble that did ever get ugly? No, it never got really ugly, because basically, what I have on my computer is pretty much what you have on your computer. And it was kind of like we, you know, we think all of this data is so precious, but in fact it is precious to us um but in fact there's not much revelation. I remember when I tasked my computer around, no sort of

what what came up. I made everybody leave the windows open that had that they had been open, so everybody could see exactly what you would looked at. And you know, my photos were open, and somebody went in for a bank statement, and you know, there were a couple of searches for porn, and maybe somebody cracked in the book of mine that was in progress. You know, first of all, there wasn't enough time to really dig down on it. And second of all, you weren't really allowed to alter, delete,

or share anything on that. You could just simply look. Now, I've done this in in in groups of up to four people, were four hundred people put their laptops out, and all four hundred people, for twenty minutes could go around and see what was on everybody else's computer. I mean it's really intimate. I mean, it's really it's a way of breaking down the you know, the kind of social neurosis that does happen in a class. We all think,

you know, everybody feels they're surprivate and so preserved. It was really a way of sharing, almost like meat space social media over sharing, which is really fascinating. Um, I'm curious, what's your hope for students takeaway from the class. Well, I don't have any hope. It's not really it's not really achievement oriented. It's more immersive. I mean, it feels like a yoga session or something, you know, it feels

like it feels like a psychotherapy encounter group. The digital tide sweep us into these incredible emotional directions and we really can't tell where we're going and in the end of the day, Um, it gets uncomfortable, but that's sort of part of it because if it's on the internet, it's part of the class. Well, we can't wait to post this episode under the title Kenny Goldstone gives away PhDs to everyone. But thanks was Kevin Goldberg at Penn State.

Now this is our own headline. So, yeah, we really appreciate your time. Thanks so much for joining us on Part Time Genius. You're listening to Part Time Genius and we're talking about the weirdest things you can study at college. Somno I mentioned before how YouTube has become a place where armchair philosophers can think their way through the deeper aspects of pop culture, and you know, then we checked out how this phenomenon is playing out in the classroom

as well. So what are some of the strangest pop culture centric courses you found? Yeah, so their classes like this for just about any movie or TV show or music act that you can think of, including at least four different ones in the world of Harry Potter. I mean, there was a symposium on Jersey Shore. But the one that really caught my eye is this class at UC Berkeley called arguing with Judge Judy popular logic on TV

Judge shows, there is no arguing with Judge Judy. But I think I do have a couple of older relatives who would probably ace this course. Yeah. So what I love is that the class doesn't take aim at Judge Judy herself, who is actually an important judge in New York City before she became this like sassy TV Justice. But instead the class focuses on dissecting the illogical arguments

that the people use. So the example given in the course description is that when someone is asked did you hit the plantiff, respondents will often say something like if I would have hit him, he'd be dead. You know that that's a kind of response that avoids answering yes or no and instead presents a perversion of standard logic. Yeah, I mean those kinds of shows aren't exactly known for

their strong legal defenses though. Yeah, that's true, But it also isn't billed as a class on law or legal reasoning. The aims really to discuss why these kind of logical fallacies are so widespread. And as a side note, do you remember that article matt Sonia Act did a mental class? I think it was titled what legal authority does Judge Judy actually have? Oh, I definitely remember that was one of my favorites. And and I remember being blown away.

He had mentioned how much Judge Judy reportedly makes and it's something like forty six or forty seven million dollars every year. And this is all without really being in a court room. It's crazy. None of those Judge shows take place in real courtrooms. And they aren't real trials either, right, No, but they're often based on real cases. And and the show approach the two sides about coming on TV and having Judge duty service the arbitrator. So the people signed

contracts that bind them to whatever her decision is. But all that robe wearing and gattle pounding, that's that's complutely for show. Yeah, yeah, it's it's very bizarre. Well, how about some pop culture classes that skeow a little younger in terms of audience? Did you, uh, do you find some weird ones there on? Maybe on modern music or something? So just about any popular artists from the last four years or so has at least one class devoted to them. I mean I was looking at I found things from

Abba to Frank's Appa. There's even this one class at University of Missouri that looks at Jay Z and Kanye West and makes this argument that their polymats, since their work mixes all this visual and performance, are into the wrap. But I mean, if you're looking for more controversial topics, one of the most popular and most divisive classes I

came across was from Skidmore College. They have a class called Sociology of Miley Cyrus and the aim of the classes to examine deeper ideas about identity and the interplay among race and class and gender, all by looking at the performers music as well as her public image. And you said it was divisive, though I'm guessing people disagreed about I don't know the academic rigors of a class

like this. Yeah, I mean, the college was kind of accused of green lighting the course is a way to get more admissions numbers and and lure a certain type of less serious student. But uh, but I don't believe that.

And then the school totally refuted it, and places like Time Magazine came to the courses defense as well, Like they pointed out that classes that deal with primary sources are actually a cornerstone of good academic practice then, And just because Miley's impact is fairly new, it doesn't mean there isn't value in studying her. And I'm not sure if you remember this, but we're coming up on the tenth anniversary of Stephen Baldwin getting a hand um Montana tattoos.

I don't I don't want to answer why I know that, but maybe it's the right time to be teaching this class. Exactly, I got anything less polarizing, well, I mean, in a similar vein Rutgers has a course called Politicizing Beyonce, which is part of the Women's and Gender Studies Department at Rutgers, and and the idea is really to look at Beyonce as this asian of social change rather than just this

successful performer. And according to lecture Kevin alread it quote really ends up being a class much more about black feminism and the current political realities of black women as opposed to just being a class on Beyonce. But our music is a nice way for students to enter the discussion. So, I mean it makes sense, right, like the music is the hook, but the class also covers all these like black feminist authors like Alice Walker and bell hooks and stuff.

But it does seem like a great example of the strengths of some of these unusual course is. I mean, they do make for topical gateways and the conversations that might otherwise seem daunting or maybe even irrelevant to these new students. And if you think about it, we're used to seeing novels and plays used as jumping off points

for educational inquiry. But like Keneth was saying earlier, our current culture allows for so many ways of reading and writing and expressing our thoughts, it makes sense to use those in the classroom, right. So so even though of courses like the Science of Superheroes that you see irvine

or what if Harry Potter is real? Which is this course that appellation state you, um, they sound frivolous at first glance, but there's a case to be made for using them as a way to like frame and investigate all these age old questions in a modern way well, and keeping students engaged has always been a challenge for educators.

So while it wouldn't be smart to stop studying Shakespeare, for instance, I don't think it's a bad idea to look to newer stories and artists as well, so as long as there's still some substance there beneath the pop culture trap. Well, speaking of substance, how about we break for a quiz. So, our guest today is a PhD researcher and the Education Department at the University of Cambridge, and it's also a contributor to Lego and Philosophy, a really fun new book. Tyler Shore is welcome to Part

Time Genius. Yeah, thanks for having me on. Honored to be on the show with you guys. Well, Tyler, tell us a little bit about this new book, Lego and Philosophy, and your your chapter in the book. Yeah, the So, the general premise of the book is that we know that Lego is the largest toy company in the world, and the idea is sort of like, oh, we wanted

to use Lego as an example in my chapter. Specifically, I use the idea that you know, like, when we think about Legos, we can use it as a way to uh, Lego can be a helpful analogy for how philosophical thinking complete us towards new connections between thoughts and ideas, And Lego and Philosophy invites us to question the idea of the nature of play. We can also think of Lego not just as a toy, but as a meetium through which ideas can be expressed. And that's one of

the things I talked about in the book. Speaking of of Lego. I saw in the news recently there's now a professor of play at the University of Cambridge. Is that right there? Is? It's it's the world's first Lego professor And um, yeah, it's uh because it is through

the Education department. We Uh, one of the things that we study is the idea of play and playfulness and uh, there are Legos in our departments that were allowed to play with two And the idea is that he'll be starting, Paul will be starting in January and he'll take up the position. It's kind of like the Lego Research Center here at Cambridge. That's that's very awesome. This is totally different.

But I was curious, you know, as Lego creates more and more of these sets that are specific for kids, like, do you still see that open endedness with Lego and does that plan to your philosophy at all a little bit? Um, do you talk about that, because that's been a big thing at least since like I was a kider we

were kids. Um this idea that like originally there were a lot more builder sets right where it was kind of like the big box of bricks and you just sort of like free builds and these sort of things. So it's kind of fin as ship, especially because like it has become this sort of like trans media empire where it's connected with all these different corporate and entertainment franchises. It has like move towards the kind of like that

sort of thing. And I think it's not necessarily it's not that one type of play is like better or worse. I think it's a different sort of imagination driven building versus more like storytelling and narrative play that sends to happen with the playsets. All right, well, we know that you're used to giving test to your students, but we're going to flip this one on you, and we're going to put you to the test. Mango, what game are we playing with Tyler today? It's a little game called

is that really a scholarship? Okay, so this is a super simple idea. We'll give you a scholarship name and a quick description, and you tell us whether it's real or something. We made up. You ready to play Tyler? All right? Okay, we got five of these for you. Number one the National Marvel Scholarship, since Marble shooters or mibsters as they're called, have competed for up to two thousand dollars in scholarship money and the chance to be

king or Queen of Marvel's real or something we made up. Yeah, he's right, all right. One for one. Number two the Grape of Code Grapest Thing since Sliced Bread Scholarship. If you can convince the judges why you're the grapest, you could walk away with one thousand dollars and a mini fridge full of the beloved grape Soda reel or something we made up. That's tricky, they're getting into unknown territory because I've never heard of that. It is a delicious soda,

but it's something we've made up. Delicious. This is soda popular in the South. I introduced it to Mango and he described it his tasting like carbonated diamond. Tap right, and a good one. Alright. So these two for two Number three Zombie Apocalypse Scholarship just convinced the panel that you have the best plan for surviving when zombies take over your school and you could walk away with a cool two thousand dollars reel or something we made up. If that isn't a real thing, it really should be

a thing. I'm gonna say yes. I'm gonna say yeah. Scholarship three for three, it's amazing. Oh wow, Okay, here we go, all right. Number four, The Alice McCarver Ratford Scholarship. This special scholarship goes to unattached female undergrads who live on campus, don't have a car, and haven't gotten any other scholarships. Reel or something we made up. It's awfully big scholarship. Um, I'm oh, he's finally missed one. I thought he was too smart for us. It is reel

and it goes exclusively to women enrolled at UNC Greensboro. Okay, all right, last one here, the Tall Club International scholar Our Ship. This scholarship serves the financial needs of exceptionally tall people real or something we made up. That sounds real. I'm gonna say real, all right. Yeah. The minimum height requirement is five ten for women and six two for men. That's terrific. All right, So how did Tyler do today? Yeah?

So Tyler one an amazing four for five, and while we can't give him the sort of cash that's thrown out by the Michigan Lama Association or the Spurious Club, we can send a madonnut key chain, which is almost as good. Yeah, that is almost as good. We congratulations Tyler, and thanks so much for joining us on part time genius. Awesome. That's going on my Twitter when I get it. Okay, so we've gone back and forth on food classes, new media classes, and pop culture courses, and now it's time

to tackle everything else. I don't know about you, but I came across the like a whole bunch of weird college courses that didn't really fit into any sort of category. Yeah. I definitely came across some really really odd one So I'm game for this. I'll start us off with one

called Dinosaurs and Other Failures. I love that title. It's a course offered at the University of Michigan, and according to the description, this Earth and Environmental Studies course quote looks at the fossil record and the ecological issues of diversification and extinction of the ruling reptiles. And it's pretty fun, right, No, and legit So here's a course that takes a much friendlier approach to animals, pet apparel, fashion and design. And so it's taught at f i T, which is the

Fashion Institute of Technology in New York. And the course description touts that, you know, I'm going to quote it, from bulldogs to American bob Tales, pets are strutting designer stuff, and owners are vying for best Dressed awards for their four legged family members. This hands on workshop starts with an introduction to body forms, functional needs, and a seasonal fabric guide. Ease of dressing and safety tips are considered in really two T shirts, winter coats, and cochure ensembles.

That's actually you remember those leather red track suits that the fashion designers made for chickens Lava. I love those so much. I feel like they made all the chickens look like Eddie Murphy and delirious. That's a good point. I didn't think about that all right. Well, I'm gonna shift gears to to a bunch of classes devoted to some pretty basic activities. Now, these are things that you'd

really think need no explanation, much less an entire college core. So, for example, Center College and Daniel Kentucky has a class called the Art of Walking, and it encourages students to quote stop focusing on constantly doing and concentrate more on simply experiencing, which I mean, I guess that's a little of what the basket weaving guy was saying in the beginning, but I know this is different. But but this is indie video game company in New York called Baby Castles,

and they only make art video games. And one of them was like all these levers and things that you have to pull just to get a person to walk. I mean like they're like hundreds of these things, and it's nearly well, just to get your character to take a few steps forward. But the whole idea is to understand and appreciate, like just how incredible your body mechanics are and everything it takes to get you to move,

which is pretty cool. All right, Well, here's another life skill that you might not think you need to go to college for. Cornell University has a class called tree climbing, and it's a course that teaches students, you'll be surprised by this, how to climb any tree and even how to move from tree to tree without returning to the ground. That's the that's only offered in the spring, during the peak tree climbing season. It says, I love that, like, just in case you're tired of the ground, you don't

want to return, right. So I came across one of these basic activities classes too, and this one's from Princeton. It's a freshman seminar called getting Dressed. Oh give me a break. I mean, that's what I thought, too, But after reading the instructor's course description, it does seem like there's a little more to it than just tree climbing. Apparently it's meant to be an examination of social significance

of clothing and the relationship between clothing and identity. And in America, you know, these course names are meant to hook people's interests. But but some of them do seem to be a disservice to the actual content if you look at them. Yeah, tell me about it. So I found a course on at Occidental College. It's it's just

called stupidity, which sounds great. But then in the course catalog gets described as quote a philosophical examination of the operations and technologies that we conduct in order to render ourselves uncomprehending, uncomprehending, I'm not sure quite follow us. So it's basically a class about how stupidity is distinct from ignorance, and it uses all these heavy readings from like Nietzsche and and whatever. But so so there's nothing stupid about it.

But if I signed up, I'd be so upset that we weren't just watching like dumb and dumber or exactly. That's great, start our own class with that, all right. Well, probably my favorite course, whose name isn't doing it any favor, is called Oh look a chicken. Wait, so that's really the name? Yeah, yeah, And actually that's kind of a point. So, just like with stupidity or getting dressed, this is one of those offbeat classes that really only makes sense once

you read the course description. And this one's a real jim, so I'll just go ahead and read it. It says, oh look a chicken will pursue ways of knowing through embracing what it means to be a distracted I could sure enjoy a peanut butter sandwich right now, learner, as well as Oh my god, I get to go to the beach this summer. Developing awareness, I need to trim my fingernails of one sentence. So you get the idea here.

I mean, I'm not even sure what the what you get with it from the description while I read an interview with the courses instructor. This is at Belmont University, and it seems to be about how distracted we are as a culture and about the ways of dealing with that, including knowing when to embrace the distractions and you know, how to push them aside so we can get back

to whatever it was we were doing in the first place. Well, I mean to tell you the truth, I was only half listening because I'm thinking about all the weird stuff I've got to prepare for today's back. All right, Well let's see what you got. M So you know what all the crazies is happening in the world today, I might want to take this course from Michigan State. It's called Surviving the Coming Zombie Apocalypse. And uh, the subtitle

is Disasters, Catastrophes and Human Behavior. That's pretty heavy. Yeah, it sounds terrific because it's it's actually this look at how humans behave during disaster times. And as the course catalog explains, quote, students and survival groups will face multiple challenges and tasks as they attempt to survive the catastrophic event, escape debt, and preserve the future of civilization. For the ability to survive ultimately rests not with individual but with

the group. So that does sound pretty interesting, But I have to admit I'm surprised you didn't start with a class that seems to be made for you. It's an Overlin College and it's just called Calvin and Hahabs. Here's what the description reads. It says, modern cartoonists consider Calvin and Hobbs to be incredibly influential, and any fan will attest to its quality and reliability. But what makes it such a great strip? I think you could answer that.

I know, and I'm totally envious of anyone who gets to take that class and just read Calvin Halls. But here here's another one that's fascinating from Overlin. It's called how to Win a Beauty Pageant, Race, Gender, Culture, and US Identity. And according to the course description, you actually get to take a field trip to a pageant in Ohio. I love that includes the field trip. Actually, this episode is maybe you can done to just turn into this ad for Overlin because I have yet one more from there.

It's called Magic, Witchcraft and Religion from Stonehenge to Harry Potter, and it's taught in London. So the quote from the course catalog is through readings, discussions, site visits and materials from the British Museum and elsewhere, the course will move through six major periods, from Stonehenge and the Druids to

Tolkien and Harry Potter field trips require that's awesome. I feel like Overland's turning in that like that school that everyone's dad says, I'm not paying fifty thousand a year for you to learn about beauty pageants and Harry Potter actually can't wait to be you that out a few years. Well before you start worrying, then maybe we chose the wrong school. I want to let you know that you should be proud of our alma mater because it offers a course called California. Here we come the o C

and self aware culture of twenty one century America. And actually Time magazine defended this one too. They wrote, the course was this exploration of the hyper self awareness unique to the Oh wow, I can't decide if I want to cheer bury my head in the sands. But for the purposes of this episode, I think you've redeemed our university. So even though I was going to counter with a fact about a tough class called demystifying the Hipsture, I'm gonna give you this week's trophy and I will take it.

And uh and and listeners, don't forget to send us the name of your weirdest college class you took or heard about. We can't wait to choose the top three and you can send those to part Time Genius at how stuff Works dot com, or you can call our fact plotline one, eight or four pt genius. So thanks so much for listening to Yeah, thanks again for listening. Part Time Genius is a production of How Stuff Works and wouldn't be possible without several brilliant people who do

the important things we couldn't even begin to understand. CHRISTA McNeil does the editing thing. Noel Brown made the theme song and does the MIXI mixy sounding. Jerry Rowland does the exact producer thing. Gaveluesier is our lead researcher, with support from the research Army including Austin Thompson, Nolan Brown and Lucas Adams and Eve Jeff Cook gets the show to your ears. Good job, Eves. If you like what

you heard, we hope you'll subscribe. And if you really really like what you've heard, maybe you could leave a good review for us. Do we do we forget Jason? Jason who