5. How to Watch Television
How to Watch Television is a subject at New Jersey’s Montclair University that focuses on analyzing how the audience interprets what they view. While students taking this class do get to watch T.V., it is not a class that simply hands out credits for binging on Netflix. Participants are asked to evaluate the role television plays in their own lives as well as in the lives of the public.
4. Underwater Basket Weaving
First offered way back in 1980, Reed College in Oregon runs a class in Underwater Basket Weaving that is offered during the University’s festival of learning. Unfortunately, it’s a non-credit course which is understandable seeing it probably won’t help you to land a job unless it’s working for Dr No in his secret underwater lair.
3. The Strategy of Starcraft
In 2009, California’s Berkeley University offered a course that involved playing Blizzard’s popular computer game Starcraft. The class entitled The Strategy of Starcraft required participants to have a firm grasp of calculus and differential equations as the course delve deeply into the science of gameplay with in-depth theory on how war is conducted within the game of Starcraft.
The following year, The University of Florida added a class named 21st Century Skills in Starcraft to its business faculty. The course was designed to teach students how to manage personnel in large scale businesses based on the theories of Starcraft unit management.
If Starcraft is not your thing then how about a course in Warcraft instead? At the Oberlin Experimental College in Oberlin, Ohio you can!
The Art of Warcraft: A Closer Look at the Virtual World Phenomenon explores the essential features of virtual worlds and their evolution. It looks at the necessary elements needed to create and sustain a successful massive multiplayer online game and how the creators use incentives to keep players coming back for more.
2. Street-Fighting Mathematics
While Street-Fighting Mathematics sounds like something used by Stephen Hawking to help him win at Fight Club, this class surprisingly involves no punching at all. The name suggests that like a street fight, many mathematical problems can be solved without a rigid set of rules – if something works, use it! Offered at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Street-Fighting Mathematics teaches ways of guessing results and solving problems without exact calculations.
1. The Simpsons and Philosophy
First offered in 2003, The Simpsons and Philosophy at California’s Berkeley University is a subject designed to introduce the concepts of philosophy to unfamiliar students. The class reads works by philosophers including Plato, Karl Marx and Friedrich Nietzsche while analysing the culture and philosophy within The Simpsons. Directors of the iconic television show including Edwin Aguiar, Raymond Persi and longtime director David Silverman have even made the occasional appearance at class lectures.
So that was the 10 strangest university courses you can actually take. Are you currently enrolled in any of these courses or another strange course? We’d love to hear from you!
