ABSURD DEGREES

Droz: Pigman is trying to prove the Caine-Hackman theory. No matter what time it is, you can find a Michael Caine or a Gene Hackman movie on TV.
Tommy: Wait, that's his thesis?
Droz: Yes! That's the beauty of college these days, Tommy. You can major in Game Boy if you know how to BS. Have a seat.
-PCU

Related to the previous post, I offer You Radar Online's list of top ten most moronic college courses in America. These are excerpts, if you want the whole thing, check out the article at Radar:

1. Lessons from Lost: A Case Study
Vanderbilt University
Professor John Sloop's freshman seminar uses the plotlines, website, and clever multimedia clues of ABC's abs-driven drama to teach students about "the function of television in everyday politics."

2. The Textual Appeal of Tupac Shakur
University of Washington
One pioneer, grad student Georgia Roberts, has taught a class for the past four years that combines 2Pac's lyrics with examinations of texts like Machiavelli's The Prince and Sun Tzu's The Art of War.

3. Pornography: The Writing of Prostitutes
Wesleyan University
Wesleyan associate professor Hope Weisman took the pedagogy one step further and, alongside assigning readings by Roland Barthes and Susan Sontag, required students to make their own pornography as a final project.

4. The Science of Superheroes
University of California-Irvine
Related: the science of Harry Potter. This actually isn't as frivolous as it sounds, they are using this hook to get people interested in science in a way that might get students who otherwise would reject it. Hard science is taught in a context of BIFF! and POW!

5. Media & Society: Fake News, Politics & Public Policy
New York University
Students are required to tune into Jon Stewart nightly and to keep up with Saturday Night Live's Weekend Update.

6. Super Smash Brothers Theory and Practice
Experimental College, Oberlin College
Unfortunately, gamers who want to improve their scores with "basic, intermediate, and advanced combat techniques" will also have to sit through lectures from their peers on "censorship, stereotyped characters, addiction, and gaming as an evolving art form."

7. Muppet Magic: Jim Henson's Art
University of California-Santa Cruz
This long-running course taught by professor and puppeteer Kathy Foley examines "the artistic and social impact of the Muppets on American puppetry."

8. Invented Languages: Klingon and Beyond
University of Texas-Austin
Unlike high school, which can be an inhospitable planet for Trekkies, college is a Vulcan Shangri-la.

9. The Phallus, Critical Theory, and Social Justice
Occidental College
Students explore cultural notions of the "Jewish phallus," the "Latino phallus," and the "lesbian phallus." (Yup, they've got one too).

10. Reading Nation and Empire: Hip Hop Eshu, QUEEN B@#$H Lyricism
Syracuse University
"In place of bourgeois literature, and even more bourgeois criticism, there will be rap audio and lyrics, oral history, ethnomusicology, folklore, and spoken word ... as well as Black Studies of all kinds," read Thomas's course description.

Your alumni dollars at work. In some cases, your tax dollars. As an added bonus, believe it or not, there was a commenter who attended one of these classes and took it with childlike seriousness:

I am actually a recent alum of Oxy and took the Phallus this past Spring. For the record, the course title is simply "The Phallus" and it is in the Critical Theory and Social Justice department at Occidental. I also took "Stupidity" and "Whiteness" within that department and will defend all three's reputation from graduate school at an Ivy next year--not Cornell, loved the other article. Though we did learn big words to impress/frighten others, the course did teach me a great deal about the ways in which we operate in an environment (un)subtly questing for this ever moving ideal of masculinity--both men and women are guilty. Keep up the good journalism--big fan of Radar--and let people learn about Phallologocentrism, chances are these are the exact type of peopl who buy your witty magazine.
-by: PHALLOLOGO

if you're donating money to a college or university, look at what's being taught next time before you sign the check. That's what the Bass family did when they became annoyed with Yale University. They'd been donating for years, but when they donated $20 million for a Western Civilization course, the university stalled:

Faculty member Sara Sulery told the Boston Globe that she was opposed to the teaching of "something called culture which is white." The ironic thing is that Yale's faculty actually seemed worried that funding professors with Mr. Bass's money would bring ideology into the classroom. You see, replacing classes on rap music and Marxist daydreaming with the teaching of Aristotle and Shakespeare is a sure way to breed Republicans. When the $20 million were to be put to use in the interest of Yale's students, Provost Judith Rodin blocked the institution of the grant and President Levin backed her up. Three years later, Mr. Bass still hadn't seen his money put to any use. Finally, he requested that he be given some say in choosing the faculty members for the program. Members of Yale's administration felt that, in the interest of academic freedom, they could not acquiesce to Mr. Bass's demands.

The Bass family demanded their money back, and Yale finally agreed.

Academia, Courses