0:00

Guess what will? What's that? Man? Do you know

0:02

that Read College in Oregon actually offers

0:04

an underwater basket weaving course? Are

0:06

you serious? I mean Read

0:08

is known for being a strange and wonderful

0:10

place. It's actually one of those campuses I've always

0:13

wanted to visit, but I can't say i'd heard about this

0:15

course. Yeah, so, I know underwater basket weaving

0:17

has been a punchline for so long, but it's

0:19

actually todd each year during a festival at Read

0:21

and does account for credit. I mean, it's

0:23

more for fun, but I love that you can actually

0:26

learn the skill. And actually I read

0:28

this note from a student defending it, where he was saying

0:30

basically that in this a d h

0:32

D world where we look at our phones every three

0:34

seconds, and you know, we need to constantly

0:37

be stimulated by technology and being

0:39

forced to concentrate on basket weaving in a pool

0:41

with your face stuffed into a snorkel, that

0:43

that was actually good for both his patients and concentration,

0:46

and it also reduced his anxiety. I

0:48

kind of like this defense, and

0:51

I mean, I think that's kind of the point, right, Like, when

0:53

you start looking around, there's so many of these

0:55

quirky classes being taught around the country,

0:57

and many of them are way more valuable than you

1:00

inc So I thought today would be a great

1:02

time to spotlight some of the weirdest classes we could

1:04

find. What do you say? We dive in? Heay

1:24

their podcast listeners, Welcome to Part Time Genius

1:27

and Will Pearson And as always I'm joined by my

1:29

good friend man guest I've taken up and we're so

1:31

happy to welcome back our producer Tristan.

1:33

He's a super important part of this show and he's been out

1:35

for a few days, but we're very glad he's

1:37

back. Well, speaking of back, it is back

1:40

to school time, and to be honest, we're

1:42

a little bit jealous. I mean, there's all these weird

1:44

college classes out there, and we wish

1:46

we could take them all. I mean, maybe not all

1:49

of them, but definitely way more than we'd ever be

1:51

able to. But that doesn't mean we can't

1:53

talk about them. So that's what we're gonna do today. We'll

1:55

also talk to a couple of daring professors who

1:58

spearheaded some pretty unique courses of their own.

2:00

So who's on the line today? Mego, yeah, So we've

2:02

got Kenneth Goldsmith, the poet and professor

2:04

at the University of Pennsylvania. Kenneth

2:06

actually teaches two unusual classes. One's

2:08

called Uncreative Writing and the others titled

2:11

Wasting time on the Internet. And we'll

2:13

have some wonderful quizzes too. All right, Well, before

2:15

we dive in, we want to hear from you listeners.

2:17

Let us know the weirdest college class you ever

2:20

took, or the one offered at your school that you

2:22

always wish you'd taken but maybe didn't get a chance

2:24

to. So send that into part time genius

2:26

at how stuff works dot com or hit us up on

2:28

Facebook or Twitter, or you can call us

2:30

on our fancy new fact hotline one

2:33

eight four four pt genius. So

2:35

we look forward to hearing from you, and of course we'll

2:37

be sending some swag to the top three entries,

2:39

so we're really looking forward to that. All right, great, alright,

2:41

So fair warning to any listeners who haven't perused

2:43

the college course catalog in a while. You

2:46

need to prepare to be jealous. I mean, these catalogs

2:48

have expanded in some wild directions

2:50

over the past decade or so, and the

2:52

result is this mortgage board of strange

2:55

and quirky classes that you know, they kind

2:57

of bring new meaning to the term liberal education.

2:59

But I remember like some house courses that people

3:01

used to teach even back when we were in college, Like

3:04

during spring break, you could take this course

3:06

called just Enough Guitar to Impress someone

3:09

and and by the end of the class you learned to

3:11

play something that sounds impressive but actually

3:13

isn't that hard, like Tangerine LEDs up.

3:16

But I I agree with you, these courses tend

3:18

to stray pretty far from the core curriculum,

3:20

but that definitely doesn't mean that they're all

3:22

together silly or or that their merit lists,

3:25

although trying to sell your parents on the worth of them might

3:27

be another story, right, you

3:29

know, Because we want to cover as many of these weird courses

3:31

as we could. Mango and I actually split up our

3:33

research for this episode, so we found

3:36

the most interesting surprising courses we could

3:38

across, you know, a few few different broad

3:40

categories. So we'll share our findings and

3:42

see if we can build our own ideal course load

3:44

for the fall semester. So,

3:46

so where do you want to start? Mango? So I want to skip

3:48

straight to the mouth watering food classes

3:51

because they're the most fun. And the first one we're gonna

3:53

start with is from Alfred University.

3:55

It's called maple Syrup, the real Thing,

3:58

the real like that day

4:00

they're throwing there And wait, isn't that the

4:02

coke slogan? Though? Yeah, but this stuff

4:04

is genuine thing.

4:07

And the fact is that some senators from Vermont

4:09

and Main have actually introduced legislation that would

4:11

make it a felony offense to sell fake maple

4:13

syrup. So the stakes are actually pretty

4:15

high. But the class sounds fascinating. It covers

4:17

the history of maple syrup production and

4:19

that spans from traditional methods to some of

4:21

the more cutting edge harvesting methods that

4:23

are used today. And students also get to take

4:25

field trips to restaurants and local syrup

4:28

producers, and they even get to go to a

4:30

maple syrup festival. So but

4:32

but the best part of the best part of all of this is that every

4:34

student gets to create and eat their own

4:37

maple syrup. I mean, it does sound like a lot of

4:39

fun. And you know, I'm a total

4:41

sucker for a good course description. Like in

4:43

college, I almost took organic chemistry just

4:45

because the class promised that um that

4:47

you get to make something that's the scent of pairs,

4:50

like you get to manufacture that in the lab. And

4:52

and I'm terrible at chemistry, but I

4:54

like pairs. I love how you felt for that with organic

4:57

chemistry, which is maybe like the hardest

4:59

class or the we eat out class in college.

5:01

But anyway, what did you learn about maple syrup? So?

5:04

You know, I couldn't resist looking up some more facts

5:06

about maple syrup. So here are a few facts

5:08

from my new favorite website, cottage Life.

5:10

Yeah you want to shut up about this one, I

5:13

know. The first one is that of the world's maple

5:15

syrup actually comes from Canada. So that surprises

5:18

me. I mean, I feel like, you know, you

5:20

always hear about Vermont's maple syrup that I

5:22

wouldn't have guessed that that larger percentage

5:24

came from I feel like Vermont is always bragging about

5:26

it, but Canadas, so they're king.

5:29

Yeah, I guess so and and and it takes forty

5:31

years for a tree to actually become ready to tap.

5:33

And then once it's ready, it takes about forty

5:36

liters of sap just to make one leader of

5:38

syrup, which is crazy. That is crazy. So

5:40

I mean that's a pretty serious long term investment

5:42

to be able to get anything. So you said, forty

5:44

years before they can get any syrup from this, which

5:46

is which is why class is a good idea, right Can you imagine

5:49

just diving into the business without knowing about it.

5:51

But back to the college classes. There are actually

5:53

a ton of classes out there that deal with the history of

5:55

production and of specific foods

5:57

and drinks, and so for example, St.

6:00

Mary's College of California offers a course

6:02

on the science behind craft beer and brewing

6:04

it. And Purdue University in Indiana

6:07

has this wine appreciation class that helps

6:09

students develop their palates. All right, wait, so

6:11

let me make this clear. So California has the beer

6:13

class and the Midwest has the wine

6:15

appreciation class. I know, it almost seems

6:18

backwards, right, but in fact, there are a lot

6:20

of California schools that offer courses on the business

6:22

of wine making. But produced class is purely

6:25

about appreciating the wine. But for all

6:27

the listeners out there, like, it's only open

6:29

to students who are twenty one or older. So for anyone

6:31

who's going to college there, they've got to pay their dues before

6:33

getting the indulge into weekly wines and things. Yeah

6:35

that makes sense, alright, So the maple syrup classes

6:38

a little lot, and the beer and wine classes would

6:40

definitely make your parents take a second look at your

6:42

course load. But what would you say as

6:44

the food class that you found the most

6:46

surprising? So Penn State's College

6:48

of Agricultural Studies has a course that's all

6:50

about ice cream making. Oh wow, all

6:52

right, well, what's the scoop on that? So the course

6:54

is actually called I said, what's the scoop? Just

6:57

making sure? The course is actually called

6:59

the ice Cream Short Course. And it's this seven

7:02

day long class that's open to industry professionals

7:04

as well as students. Basically, people

7:06

come from all over the world to take part in a bunch of

7:08

workshops that teach them about the different aspects

7:10

of ice cream and you know the technology used

7:12

to make it. But the really crazy thing

7:15

is just how long the class has been going on for. Hence

7:17

State has been offering it every January

7:20

for the last six years.

7:22

Oh wow, seriously, Yeah, it's crazy.

7:24

So, in fact, it's very likely the first

7:26

continuing ed course ever offered in the US.

7:29

It first started back in two

7:31

when the School of Agricultural held this uh dairy

7:33

manufacturing class in the winter and

7:36

this is courting the school. This is when

7:38

farm work is least pressing and the boys

7:40

can be spared. Is

7:43

that really what it says, the boys can be spared?

7:45

That kind of sounds like an ad for like a group that likes

7:48

to go without underwear. They commando grew

7:51

anyway, So sorry. Ice cream

7:53

making was was always part of the curriculum,

7:55

but by the Frozen

7:57

treat became so popular in the US that the course

8:00

exclusively focused on ice cream. And

8:02

so so you've got to figure in this time, reps

8:05

from every major ice cream place and started

8:07

taking the course. So you've got good humor. Baskin

8:10

Robbins, Ample Hills, Bluebell Hog

8:12

and does. It's like a finishing course for

8:14

every ice cream maker in the country, even

8:16

Ben and Jerry's they learned their craft there.

8:18

That's quite a crew that's been there. Well, did you find

8:20

any other food classes that were kind of like that,

8:23

you know, a bit more prestigious, but it still a little bit

8:25

weird. Yeah, definitely. But before we get

8:27

to any of that, I've got to share at least one more ice cream

8:29

factor. So did you know in nineteen

8:31

seven, Fidel Castro was so threatened

8:34

by Baskin Robbins and the fact that America had thirty

8:36

one flavors of ice cream that he bragged

8:38

that Cuba was already producing twenty six

8:40

flavors and they'd soon be producing

8:42

for I love the

8:45

ramp up that he didn't just say they had more, that they

8:47

really were working towards this goal. I know, if I understand

8:49

why, like eleven more flavors makes Cuba like

8:51

a superior society is pretty intimidating.

8:54

Hey, he said they were gonna put America

8:56

to shame. But back to your

8:58

question, and this one is maybe

9:00

my favorite class of this whole food category. It's

9:03

called gastro Diplomacy and it's

9:05

offered at American University in Washington, d

9:07

C. It's this really neat course

9:09

based around the idea that food can be used to help

9:11

increase cultural understanding between countries.

9:14

Oh wow, well that's pretty interesting. I mean, especially

9:16

when you consider that for a lot of Americans,

9:18

you know that the most personal interaction they'll

9:20

ever have with some foreign cultures really

9:23

is through the cuisine they might try at their own home.

9:25

Yeah, so, Public Diplomacy Magazine

9:28

which I mean, we were in the magazine business with Metal

9:30

Plus for fifteen years and I've never heard of it,

9:32

but now I'm totally hooked. They did a

9:34

study a few years back where they surveyed a hundred

9:36

forty people about eating other cultures cuisine,

9:39

and more than half the respondents said that

9:41

eating a foreign country's food lead them to think more

9:44

positively about that country. So you

9:46

know, it's true. The way to people's hearts, it really

9:48

is through their stomach. Well, I like that idea. And how

9:50

exactly though, does this translate into a college

9:52

class. Yeah, I was curious about that too. But the

9:55

students study wars and conflicts, so they might

9:57

look at the Vietnam War, or Ethiopia

9:59

Civil war are or the Soviet War in Afghanistan,

10:02

And then they actually take field trips to local ethnic

10:04

restaurants, you know, so they can actually taste

10:06

traditional meals from these cultures and even

10:08

get some face time with immigrants who prepare them.

10:10

It's pretty awesome. And the instructor

10:13

and Mendelssohn Foreman said, I've

10:15

got this quote. The ideas for students

10:17

to hear from the cooks, from the owners of these places

10:20

about how they see their cuisine as a communication

10:22

tool in their own communities. I think this one

10:24

might be my favorite too. That that's that's pretty

10:26

cool, all right, Well, do you have any others in

10:28

that category? No, I think that covers

10:31

it. Well, let's switch gears now from a course that challenges

10:33

students to look outward at the people they share the

10:35

world with, too, one that does the exact

10:37

opposite. So I'm guessing you're talking

10:39

about that selfie class you were telling me about earlier.

10:42

Is indeed that one? All right? So this course falls

10:44

into one of the broad categories I looked into,

10:46

and that these were classes that examine the use of

10:48

social media and digital technologies.

10:51

And the first one is commonly referred to as

10:53

the selfie class, but it's more formally

10:56

known as Writing and Critical Reasoning

10:58

Identity and diversity, and it's

11:00

you know, it's part social studies, part writing

11:02

workshop, and one of the courses assignments

11:05

challenges students to take five selfies

11:07

of themselves and then write an essay

11:09

on how the selfies produced or

11:12

obscured a sense of their identities. You

11:14

know, it's a pretty thoughtful course actually, Like the

11:16

students are encouraged to consider every aspect

11:19

of their pictures, whether it's how they're posing

11:21

their clothing, their facial expression,

11:24

the lighting and background, even

11:26

the gaze and the camera angle, and so actually

11:28

here a few questions. The students were asked to think

11:30

about what in your selfies is

11:32

accurate? What is obscured or

11:35

ambiguous? Does the image portray

11:37

one identity trait more than others? How

11:40

is the viewer addressed in the image? What

11:42

is the apparent context of this image? I

11:44

mean, it's it's so philosophical. Can you

11:46

imagine if Instagram or Snapchat made

11:48

this the assignment that before you hit the published

11:51

button, that everyone has to write an essay

11:53

exactly. I love it and and I also love

11:55

things that don't sound that smart on the service and then

11:57

end up being so much deeper, and taking

12:00

selfies is like perfect. It's

12:02

like the simple act of vanity.

12:04

But but it's fun to think about what it actually

12:06

says about ourselves, right, right, And it's a crazy

12:09

phenomenon. So Google reports that more than

12:11

twenty four billion selfies were uploaded

12:13

in two thousand and fifteen, and that number

12:15

only seems to be growing every single year.

12:18

So did you come across any other courses that do this,

12:20

you know, look at some of our questionable digital

12:22

habits. Well, there's an interesting course at a pits

12:24

or college called Learning from YouTube, and

12:26

it was designed to evaluate what YouTube

12:28

can teach us, you know, given that so many of

12:30

its videos or someone educational and it's

12:32

in their nature and you know, how

12:35

to videos or video essays about

12:37

the philosophy of popular movies or TV

12:39

shows. And one of the weirdest things about

12:41

it, though, is that all of the coursework

12:43

was not only about YouTube, it was actually

12:46

on YouTube. So the classes were all

12:48

recorded and posted on the site, and all

12:50

the students essays were done in the form of videos

12:53

and the comments on those videos. That

12:56

sounds super fun. Like when I was in school, I always

12:58

tried to do the project to get out of doing the right

13:01

But is there an advantage to that style

13:03

of learning? Well maybe. Unsurprisingly,

13:05

students determine that YouTube isn't all that

13:07

great for learning, or at least not in the big classroom

13:10

way that we're used to. It was. It was daunting

13:12

for them to have all their classes and homework on

13:14

public display where commoners

13:16

and trolls could ridicule them, and they

13:19

basically concluded that YouTube can be a decent

13:21

educational tool on an individual basis,

13:23

but it's much less useful in a communal

13:25

setting and probably works best just as a means

13:28

of entertainment. That's fascinating. So I

13:30

actually remember visiting one of my best friends who I thought

13:32

was pretty handy, but then he suddenly

13:34

put a whole new roof on his house by himself,

13:37

and I asked her, like, how did you do that?

13:39

How do you know what to do? And he said YouTube,

13:43

he learned how to. I hope the roof is still work. It

13:45

was follow up on that, but

13:48

it's amazing all the information that's out there and

13:50

like all this step by step instruction, but also

13:53

you know, to know where YouTube's failings are

13:55

really interesting to think about it too. Did you find a

13:58

new media classes that seemed, I don't know,

14:00

a little more practical. Well, yeah,

14:02

I mean there's stuff like there's one called

14:04

smartphone photography at Portland Community

14:07

College, and I'm sure there are other colleges that that teach

14:09

this as well, and you know, basically

14:11

teaches about the composition and lighting for

14:13

the cameras that we're all carrying around in our pockets.

14:16

And and I suppose that's useful at least

14:18

the kind of skill. And for me, you know, the most

14:20

compelling course in this category was

14:22

definitely Kenneth Goldsmith's Wasting Time

14:25

on the Internet. And we actually have

14:27

him here to talk with us today. What do you say we get him on the line.

14:29

I love No, let's do it. Our

14:33

guest today is a poet and in fact the first

14:35

poet Laureate of the Museum of Modern Art. He's

14:37

an author of several books, but the one we're focused

14:40

on today is called Wasting Time

14:42

on the Internet, and it's based on a course he's

14:44

taught at the University of Pennsylvania. Kenneth

14:46

Goldsmith, Welcome to part time genius. I'm

14:49

glad to be here. So, Kenneth, I was reading the first

14:51

part of your of your book

14:53

Wasting Time on the Internet, and I saw that

14:56

you were talking about this tweet that you

14:58

you put out in the Fall of tooth Ius and fourteen

15:01

were you announced this new course and the tweet

15:03

said, my class called Wasting Time on the Internet

15:05

will be offered at pen next semester.

15:08

And apparently this tweet just kind of blew up.

15:11

Tell us what happened after you sent this tweet out

15:14

well, you know, I mostly got a return

15:16

tweet saying, you know, I've got

15:18

a PhD in that. You

15:20

know, it kind of went slightly viral,

15:22

and you know the way things go on Twitter.

15:25

I got a request from uh,

15:29

the Washington Post for an interview, which

15:32

I gave UH and it was published

15:34

shortly thereafter, and then I think maybe

15:36

another one for Vice. And I

15:38

didn't give too many other interviews about it. But what

15:40

starts to happen is that

15:43

these UH news sources

15:45

get cannibalized by lesser fish

15:48

and they go down the food chain. UH.

15:51

And each time it's like a giant game of telephone.

15:54

My facts get more and more twisted. As a

15:56

matter of fact, a lot of people were simply

15:58

cutting and pasting what had been written

16:00

before slapping a new headline on it, changing

16:03

the first sentence, and then posting

16:05

it as their own original content.

16:08

Finally, at the end of the chain

16:11

of telephone, about a month later, evidently

16:14

a professor named

16:16

Kevin Goldberg at Penn

16:19

State was giving away PhDs

16:21

in wasting time on the Internet. That's

16:25

pretty funny, So would you tell us a little bit about

16:27

the class and what actually takes place in it? The promise

16:29

the classes. This fIF team people

16:31

get together in a room with all the

16:34

technology that they can possibly muster,

16:37

and we waste time together. And

16:39

that's the only thing that I require

16:42

from the students. There's no papers

16:44

being written, there's no nothing other than

16:46

to actually be together in this room,

16:49

wasting time on the Internet together. And

16:51

what do you discover from that? I discovered the

16:53

contrary to the

16:55

popular idea that technology

16:58

separates us, in

17:00

fact, when we put technology in the room

17:02

with us as a group, technology tends

17:04

to act as amplifiers

17:07

of emotion and affect. Uh.

17:10

It becomes a hyper emotional

17:13

space driven by technology.

17:16

So when we waste time on the Internet, we normally

17:19

waste time, you know, at a Starbucks

17:21

or library, and we're alone and we're feeling

17:23

lonely. But once

17:25

you begin to put those machines into

17:28

a room with people who can actually talk to each other,

17:30

some real magic happens. Now. I saw

17:32

some of the assignments that you gave up

17:34

made students a bit nervous at first.

17:36

You know, one of them was you know that

17:39

they could um basically take

17:41

the laptop of another class member and

17:43

look up anything that they wanted to on

17:46

that person's computer. Any files, any

17:48

documents, anything like that, and then they passed

17:50

the laptop along to the next

17:52

person and looked at another laptop. And whether

17:55

it was that or another assignment,

17:57

I think I saw was that the class

17:59

together was us to start some sort of

18:01

rumor and then spread that rumor. So

18:03

with these sorts of assignments, which do sound really

18:06

interesting, did did you ever run into any

18:08

trouble that did ever get ugly? No, it

18:10

never got really ugly, because basically,

18:12

what I have on my computer is pretty much

18:14

what you have on your computer. And

18:17

it was kind of like we, you know, we think all of this

18:19

data is so precious, but in fact it

18:21

is precious to us um

18:24

but in fact there's not much revelation. I remember

18:26

when I tasked my computer around, no

18:28

sort of what what came up. I made

18:30

everybody leave the windows open that had that

18:32

they had been open, so everybody could see exactly

18:34

what you would looked at. And you know, my photos

18:36

were open, and somebody went in for

18:38

a bank statement, and you know, there

18:40

were a couple of searches for porn, and

18:43

maybe somebody cracked in the book of mine that

18:45

was in progress. You know, first of all, there wasn't

18:47

enough time to really dig down on it.

18:49

And second of all, you weren't really allowed to alter, delete,

18:52

or share anything on that. You could just simply

18:54

look. Now, I've done this in

18:56

in in groups of up to four

18:59

people, were four hundred people put

19:01

their laptops out, and all four

19:03

hundred people, for twenty minutes could go around

19:06

and see what was on everybody else's computer. I

19:08

mean it's really intimate. I mean, it's really it's

19:11

a way of breaking down the

19:15

you know, the kind of social

19:18

neurosis that does happen in a class.

19:20

We all think, you know, everybody feels

19:23

they're surprivate and so preserved.

19:25

It was really a way of sharing, almost

19:27

like meat space social media over sharing,

19:29

which is really fascinating. Um, I'm

19:31

curious, what's your hope for students takeaway

19:33

from the class. Well, I don't have any hope.

19:36

It's not really it's not really achievement

19:39

oriented. It's more immersive. I mean,

19:42

it feels like a yoga session or something, you

19:44

know, it feels like it feels like a psychotherapy

19:47

encounter group. The digital

19:49

tide sweep us into these incredible

19:51

emotional directions and we really can't

19:53

tell where we're going and in the end of the day, Um,

19:56

it gets uncomfortable, but that's

19:58

sort of part of it because if it's on

20:00

the internet, it's part of the class. Well,

20:03

we can't wait to post this episode under the

20:05

title Kenny Goldstone gives away PhDs

20:07

to everyone. But thanks

20:10

was Kevin Goldberg at Penn

20:13

State. Now this is our own headline. So,

20:16

yeah, we really

20:18

appreciate your time. Thanks so much for joining us

20:20

on Part Time Genius. You're

20:33

listening to Part Time Genius and we're talking about the weirdest

20:36

things you can study at college. Somno

20:38

I mentioned before how YouTube has become a place

20:40

where armchair philosophers can think their way

20:43

through the deeper aspects of pop culture,

20:45

and you know, then we checked out how this phenomenon

20:47

is playing out in the classroom as well. So

20:49

what are some of the strangest pop culture centric

20:51

courses you found? Yeah, so their classes

20:54

like this for just about any movie or TV

20:56

show or music act that you can think of, including

20:59

at least four different ones in the world of Harry

21:01

Potter. I mean, there was a symposium on Jersey

21:03

Shore. But the one that really caught my eye is

21:05

this class at UC Berkeley called arguing

21:07

with Judge Judy popular logic

21:10

on TV Judge shows, there is no arguing

21:12

with Judge Judy. But I think I do have a couple

21:14

of older relatives who would probably ace this course.

21:17

Yeah. So what I love is that the class doesn't

21:19

take aim at Judge Judy herself, who is actually

21:21

an important judge in New York City before she became

21:23

this like sassy TV Justice.

21:25

But instead the class focuses on dissecting

21:27

the illogical arguments that the people use. So

21:30

the example given in the course description is

21:32

that when someone is asked did you hit

21:34

the plantiff, respondents will often

21:36

say something like if I would have hit

21:38

him, he'd be dead. You

21:41

know that that's a kind of response that avoids answering

21:44

yes or no and instead presents a perversion

21:46

of standard logic. Yeah, I mean those kinds of

21:48

shows aren't exactly known for their strong legal

21:50

defenses though. Yeah, that's true, But

21:52

it also isn't billed as a class on law or

21:54

legal reasoning. The aims really to discuss

21:57

why these kind of logical fallacies are so

21:59

widespread. And as a side

22:01

note, do you remember that article matt Sonia Act did

22:03

a mental class? I think it was titled what

22:06

legal authority does Judge Judy actually have?

22:08

Oh, I definitely remember that was one of my favorites. And

22:10

and I remember being blown away. He had mentioned

22:12

how much Judge Judy reportedly makes

22:14

and it's something like forty six

22:16

or forty seven million dollars every

22:19

year. And this is all without really being

22:21

in a court room. It's crazy. None of

22:23

those Judge shows take place in real courtrooms. And

22:25

they aren't real trials either, right, No, but

22:27

they're often based on real cases. And and

22:29

the show approach the two sides about coming on TV

22:32

and having Judge duty service the arbitrator.

22:34

So the people signed contracts that bind

22:36

them to whatever her decision is. But all

22:38

that robe wearing and gattle pounding,

22:41

that's that's complutely for show. Yeah, yeah, it's it's

22:43

very bizarre. Well, how about some pop culture

22:45

classes that skeow a little younger in terms

22:47

of audience? Did you, uh, do you find some weird

22:49

ones there on? Maybe on modern music or something?

22:51

So just about any popular artists

22:53

from the last four years or so has at least one class

22:56

devoted to them. I mean I was looking at I found

22:58

things from Abba to Frank's Appa. There's

23:01

even this one class at University of Missouri

23:03

that looks at Jay Z and Kanye West and

23:05

makes this argument that their polymats,

23:07

since their work mixes all this visual

23:09

and performance, are into the wrap. But I mean,

23:11

if you're looking for more controversial topics,

23:14

one of the most popular and most divisive classes

23:16

I came across was from Skidmore College.

23:18

They have a class called Sociology of Miley

23:20

Cyrus and the aim of the classes

23:23

to examine deeper ideas about identity

23:25

and the interplay among race and class

23:27

and gender, all by looking at the performers

23:30

music as well as her public image. And

23:32

you said it was divisive, though I'm guessing people

23:34

disagreed about I don't know the academic

23:36

rigors of a class like this. Yeah, I

23:38

mean, the college was kind of accused of

23:41

green lighting the course is a way to get more admissions

23:43

numbers and and lure a certain type of

23:45

less serious student. But uh, but

23:48

I don't believe that. And then the school totally

23:50

refuted it, and places like Time Magazine

23:52

came to the courses defense as well, Like they

23:54

pointed out that classes that deal with primary

23:56

sources are actually a cornerstone of good

23:59

academic practice then, And just

24:01

because Miley's impact is fairly new, it

24:03

doesn't mean there isn't value in studying her. And

24:05

I'm not sure if you remember this, but we're coming up on the

24:07

tenth anniversary of Stephen Baldwin getting

24:10

a hand um Montana tattoos. I

24:12

don't I don't want to answer why I know that,

24:14

but maybe it's the right time to be teaching this class.

24:16

Exactly, I got anything less polarizing,

24:19

well, I mean, in a similar vein Rutgers

24:22

has a course called Politicizing Beyonce,

24:24

which is part of the Women's and Gender Studies

24:26

Department at Rutgers, and and the idea

24:28

is really to look at Beyonce as this asian of social

24:31

change rather than just this successful performer.

24:34

And according to lecture Kevin alread it

24:36

quote really ends up being a class much

24:38

more about black feminism and the

24:40

current political realities of black women as

24:43

opposed to just being a class on Beyonce. But

24:45

our music is a nice way for students to enter the discussion.

24:48

So, I mean it makes sense, right, like the music is the

24:50

hook, but the class also covers all these like black

24:52

feminist authors like Alice Walker and

24:55

bell hooks and stuff. But it does seem like a great

24:57

example of the strengths of some of these unusual

24:59

course is. I mean, they do make for topical

25:02

gateways and the conversations that might otherwise

25:04

seem daunting or maybe even irrelevant

25:07

to these new students. And if you think about

25:09

it, we're used to seeing novels and

25:11

plays used as jumping off points for educational

25:13

inquiry. But like Keneth was saying

25:15

earlier, our current culture allows for

25:17

so many ways of reading and writing

25:19

and expressing our thoughts,

25:21

it makes sense to use those in the classroom,

25:24

right. So so even though of courses like the Science

25:26

of Superheroes that you see irvine or

25:29

what if Harry Potter is real? Which is this course

25:31

that appellation state you, um, they

25:33

sound frivolous at first glance, but there's a case

25:35

to be made for using them as a way to like frame

25:38

and investigate all these age old questions

25:40

in a modern way well, and keeping students engaged

25:42

has always been a challenge for educators. So

25:44

while it wouldn't be smart to stop studying

25:46

Shakespeare, for instance, I don't think

25:48

it's a bad idea to look to newer stories

25:51

and artists as well, so as long as

25:53

there's still some substance there beneath the pop

25:55

culture trap. Well, speaking

25:57

of substance, how about we break for a quiz.

26:06

So, our guest today is a PhD researcher and

26:08

the Education Department at the University of Cambridge,

26:11

and it's also a contributor to Lego and Philosophy,

26:14

a really fun new book. Tyler

26:16

Shore is welcome to Part Time Genius. Yeah,

26:19

thanks for having me on. Honored

26:21

to be on the show with you guys. Well,

26:23

Tyler, tell us a little bit about this new book, Lego

26:25

and Philosophy, and your your chapter in

26:27

the book. Yeah, the So, the general

26:30

premise of the book is that we know that Lego

26:32

is the largest toy

26:35

company in the world, and the

26:37

idea is sort of like, oh, we wanted to use Lego as

26:39

an example in my chapter.

26:41

Specifically, I use the idea

26:43

that you know, like, when we think about Legos, we can

26:46

use it as a way to uh,

26:49

Lego can be a helpful analogy for how philosophical

26:52

thinking complete us towards new connections between

26:54

thoughts and ideas, And Lego and Philosophy

26:56

invites us to question the idea of the nature of

26:58

play. We can also think of Lego not just as

27:01

a toy, but as a meetium through which ideas

27:03

can be expressed. And that's one of the things I talked about in

27:05

the book. Speaking of of Lego. I saw

27:07

in the news recently there's now a

27:09

professor of play at the University of Cambridge.

27:11

Is that right there? Is? It's it's the world's

27:14

first Lego professor And

27:16

um, yeah, it's uh because

27:19

it is through the Education department.

27:21

We Uh, one of the things that we study

27:23

is the idea of play and playfulness and

27:26

uh, there are Legos in our departments

27:28

that were allowed to play with two And

27:30

the idea is that he'll be starting, Paul

27:32

will be starting in January and he'll take up the position.

27:35

It's kind of like the Lego Research Center here

27:37

at Cambridge. That's that's very awesome.

27:40

This is totally different. But I was

27:42

curious, you know, as Lego creates more

27:44

and more of these sets that are specific for

27:47

kids, like, do you still see that open endedness

27:49

with Lego and does that plan to your philosophy

27:51

at all a

27:53

little bit? Um, do you talk about that, because that's

27:55

been a big thing at least since like I was a kider

27:57

we were kids. Um this idea that like

28:00

originally there were a lot more builder sets

28:02

right where it was kind of like the big

28:05

box of bricks and you just sort of like

28:07

free builds and these sort of things. So it's kind of

28:09

fin as ship, especially because like it has become this

28:12

sort of like trans media empire

28:15

where it's connected with all these

28:17

different corporate and entertainment franchises.

28:20

It has like move towards the kind of like that

28:22

sort of thing. And I think it's not necessarily

28:26

it's not that one type of play is like better or worse.

28:28

I think it's a different sort of imagination

28:31

driven building versus more

28:33

like storytelling and narrative play that sends

28:36

to happen with the playsets. All right, well,

28:38

we know that you're used to giving test to your students,

28:40

but we're going to flip this one on you, and we're going to

28:42

put you to the test. Mango, what game are we playing with

28:44

Tyler today? It's a little game called is

28:47

that really a scholarship? Okay,

28:49

so this is a super simple idea. We'll

28:51

give you a scholarship name and a quick description,

28:54

and you tell us whether it's real or something.

28:56

We made up. You ready to play Tyler?

28:59

All right? Okay, we

29:01

got five of these for you. Number one the

29:04

National Marvel Scholarship, since

29:07

Marble shooters or mibsters as they're called,

29:10

have competed for up to two thousand dollars

29:12

in scholarship money and the chance to

29:14

be king or Queen of Marvel's

29:16

real or something we made up. Yeah,

29:20

he's right, all right. One for one. Number

29:23

two the Grape

29:25

of Code Grapest Thing since Sliced

29:27

Bread Scholarship. If you can convince

29:29

the judges why you're the grapest, you

29:31

could walk away with one thousand dollars

29:33

and a mini fridge full of the beloved

29:36

grape Soda reel or something

29:38

we made up. That's tricky,

29:41

they're getting into unknown territory because I've never heard

29:43

of that. It

29:48

is a delicious soda, but it's something we've made up.

29:51

Delicious. This is soda popular in the South.

29:54

I introduced it to Mango and he described it his tasting

29:56

like carbonated diamond. Tap right, and

29:59

a good one. Alright. So these two for two

30:02

Number three Zombie Apocalypse

30:04

Scholarship just convinced the panel that

30:06

you have the best plan for surviving when zombies

30:09

take over your school and you could walk away

30:11

with a cool two thousand dollars

30:13

reel or something we made up. If

30:17

that isn't a real thing, it really should be a thing.

30:20

I'm gonna say yes. I'm gonna say yeah.

30:23

Scholarship three for three, it's amazing.

30:25

Oh wow, Okay, here we go, all right. Number four,

30:27

The Alice McCarver Ratford Scholarship.

30:30

This special scholarship goes to unattached

30:32

female undergrads who live on campus,

30:35

don't have a car, and haven't gotten any

30:37

other scholarships. Reel or

30:39

something we made up. It's

30:42

awfully big scholarship. Um,

30:46

I'm oh, he's finally missed

30:48

one. I thought he was too smart for us. It

30:51

is reel and it goes exclusively to women enrolled

30:53

at UNC Greensboro. Okay,

30:55

all right, last one here, the

30:58

Tall Club International scholar Our

31:00

Ship. This scholarship serves the financial

31:02

needs of exceptionally tall people

31:04

real or something we made up. That

31:06

sounds real. I'm gonna say real, all right.

31:10

Yeah. The minimum height requirement is five

31:12

ten for women and six two for men. That's

31:15

terrific. All right, So how did Tyler do today? Yeah?

31:17

So Tyler one an amazing four for

31:19

five, and while we can't give him the sort of cash that's thrown

31:21

out by the Michigan Lama Association or

31:23

the Spurious Club, we can send a madonnut

31:26

key chain, which is almost as good. Yeah, that

31:28

is almost as good. We congratulations Tyler,

31:30

and thanks so much for joining us on part time genius.

31:33

Awesome. That's going on my Twitter when I get it.

31:48

Okay, so we've gone back and forth on food

31:50

classes, new media classes, and pop

31:52

culture courses, and now it's time

31:54

to tackle everything else. I

31:57

don't know about you, but I came across the like a whole

32:00

bunch of weird college courses that didn't

32:02

really fit into any sort of category. Yeah. I

32:04

definitely came across some really really odd

32:06

one So I'm game for this. I'll start

32:08

us off with one called Dinosaurs

32:11

and Other Failures. I love that title.

32:13

It's a course offered at the University of Michigan, and

32:15

according to the description, this Earth

32:18

and Environmental Studies course quote looks

32:20

at the fossil record and the ecological issues

32:22

of diversification and extinction of

32:25

the ruling reptiles. And it's pretty fun,

32:27

right, No, and legit So here's a course

32:29

that takes a much friendlier approach to animals,

32:31

pet apparel, fashion and design.

32:34

And so it's taught at f i T, which is the Fashion

32:36

Institute of Technology in New York. And the

32:38

course description touts that, you

32:40

know, I'm going to quote it, from bulldogs

32:42

to American bob Tales, pets are strutting

32:45

designer stuff, and owners are vying for

32:47

best Dressed awards for their four legged family

32:49

members. This hands

32:52

on workshop starts with an introduction to body

32:54

forms, functional needs, and a seasonal

32:56

fabric guide. Ease of dressing and

32:58

safety tips are considered in really two T shirts,

33:00

winter coats, and cochure ensembles.

33:03

That's actually

33:05

you remember those leather red track suits

33:07

that the fashion designers made for chickens

33:10

Lava. I love those

33:12

so much. I feel like they made all the chickens look like Eddie

33:14

Murphy and delirious. That's a good

33:16

point. I didn't think about that all right. Well, I'm

33:18

gonna shift gears to to a bunch of classes devoted

33:20

to some pretty basic activities. Now, these

33:23

are things that you'd really think need no explanation,

33:26

much less an entire college core. So,

33:28

for example, Center College and Daniel Kentucky

33:30

has a class called the Art of Walking,

33:33

and it encourages students to quote stop

33:35

focusing on constantly doing and

33:37

concentrate more on simply experiencing,

33:40

which I mean, I guess that's a little of what the basket

33:42

weaving guy was saying in the beginning, but I

33:45

know this is different. But but this is indie

33:47

video game company in New York called Baby Castles,

33:49

and they only make art video games. And

33:52

one of them was like all these levers

33:54

and things that you have to pull just to get

33:56

a person to walk. I mean like they're like hundreds

33:58

of these things, and it's nearly well, just to

34:00

get your character to take a few steps forward.

34:03

But the whole idea is to understand and appreciate,

34:05

like just how incredible your body mechanics

34:07

are and everything it takes to get you to move,

34:10

which is pretty cool. All right, Well, here's another

34:12

life skill that you might not think you need to go to college

34:14

for. Cornell University has a

34:16

class called tree climbing, and it's a course

34:19

that teaches students, you'll be surprised by this, how

34:21

to climb any tree and even how to move

34:23

from tree to tree without returning to the

34:25

ground. That's the that's only

34:27

offered in the spring, during the peak

34:30

tree climbing season. It says, I

34:32

love that, like, just in case you're tired of the ground,

34:34

you don't want to return, right. So

34:36

I came across one of these basic activities

34:38

classes too, and this one's from Princeton. It's

34:41

a freshman seminar called getting Dressed.

34:43

Oh give me a break. I

34:45

mean, that's what I thought, too, But after reading the instructor's

34:48

course description, it does seem like there's

34:50

a little more to it than just tree

34:52

climbing. Apparently it's meant to be an examination

34:54

of social significance of clothing and the

34:57

relationship between clothing and identity. And

34:59

in America, you know, these course

35:01

names are meant to hook people's interests. But

35:03

but some of them do seem to be a disservice

35:05

to the actual content if you look at them. Yeah, tell

35:07

me about it. So I found a course on at

35:10

Occidental College. It's it's just called stupidity,

35:14

which sounds great. But then in the course

35:16

catalog gets described as quote

35:19

a philosophical examination of

35:21

the operations and technologies that we

35:23

conduct in order to render ourselves

35:25

uncomprehending, uncomprehending,

35:27

I'm not sure quite follow us. So

35:29

it's basically a class about how stupidity

35:32

is distinct from ignorance, and it

35:34

uses all these heavy readings from like Nietzsche

35:36

and and whatever. But so so there's

35:38

nothing stupid about it. But if

35:41

I signed up, I'd be so upset that we

35:43

weren't just watching like dumb and dumber or exactly.

35:46

That's great, start our own class with that, all

35:49

right. Well, probably my favorite course, whose name isn't

35:51

doing it any favor, is called Oh look

35:53

a chicken. Wait,

35:57

so that's really the name? Yeah, yeah, And

35:59

actually that's kind of a point. So, just like with stupidity

36:01

or getting dressed, this is one of those offbeat

36:04

classes that really only makes sense once

36:06

you read the course description. And this

36:08

one's a real jim, so I'll just go ahead and read it.

36:10

It says, oh look a chicken will

36:12

pursue ways of knowing through embracing

36:14

what it means to be a distracted I

36:16

could sure enjoy a peanut butter sandwich right now,

36:19

learner, as well as Oh my god, I get to go to the beach

36:21

this summer. Developing awareness, I need to

36:23

trim my fingernails of one sentence. So you

36:25

get the idea here. I mean,

36:27

I'm not even sure what the what you get

36:29

with it from the description while I read an

36:31

interview with the courses instructor. This is at Belmont

36:34

University, and it seems to be about

36:36

how distracted we are as a culture and

36:38

about the ways of dealing with that, including

36:40

knowing when to embrace the distractions and

36:43

you know, how to push them aside so we can get back to

36:45

whatever it was we were doing in the first place.

36:48

Well, I mean to tell you the truth, I was only

36:50

half listening because I'm thinking about all the weird stuff I've

36:52

got to prepare for today's back. All

36:54

right, Well let's see what you got. M

37:06

So you know what all the crazies is happening

37:08

in the world today, I might want to

37:10

take this course from Michigan State. It's called

37:12

Surviving the Coming Zombie Apocalypse.

37:15

And uh, the subtitle is Disasters,

37:17

Catastrophes and Human Behavior.

37:20

That's pretty heavy. Yeah, it sounds terrific because it's

37:22

it's actually this look at how humans behave

37:24

during disaster times. And as

37:26

the course catalog explains, quote,

37:28

students and survival groups will face multiple

37:30

challenges and tasks as they attempt to survive

37:33

the catastrophic event, escape debt,

37:35

and preserve the future of civilization. For

37:37

the ability to survive ultimately rests

37:39

not with individual but with the group. So

37:42

that does sound pretty interesting, But I have to admit

37:44

I'm surprised you didn't start with a class that seems

37:46

to be made for you. It's an Overlin

37:48

College and it's just called Calvin and Hahabs.

37:51

Here's what the description reads. It says, modern cartoonists

37:54

consider Calvin and Hobbs to be incredibly influential,

37:57

and any fan will attest to its quality

37:59

and reliability. But what makes it such

38:01

a great strip? I think you could

38:03

answer that. I know, and I'm

38:05

totally envious of anyone who gets to take that class

38:07

and just read Calvin Halls. But here

38:10

here's another one that's fascinating from Overlin.

38:12

It's called how to Win a Beauty Pageant, Race,

38:15

Gender, Culture, and US Identity.

38:17

And according to the course description, you actually

38:19

get to take a field trip to a pageant in Ohio.

38:21

I love that includes the field trip. Actually,

38:23

this episode is maybe you can done to just turn into this

38:26

ad for Overlin because I have yet

38:28

one more from there. It's called Magic,

38:30

Witchcraft and Religion from Stonehenge

38:32

to Harry Potter, and it's taught in

38:35

London. So the quote from the course

38:37

catalog is through readings, discussions, site

38:39

visits and materials from the British Museum

38:41

and elsewhere, the course will move through six

38:43

major periods, from Stonehenge and the Druids

38:46

to Tolkien and Harry Potter field

38:48

trips require that's awesome.

38:51

I feel like Overland's turning in that like that school

38:53

that everyone's dad says, I'm not paying fifty

38:55

thousand a year for you to learn about beauty pageants

38:57

and Harry Potter actually can't

38:59

wait to be you that out a few years. Well

39:02

before you start worrying, then maybe we chose the wrong

39:04

school. I want to let you know that you should be proud

39:06

of our alma mater because it offers a

39:08

course called California. Here

39:10

we come the o C and self aware culture

39:13

of twenty one century America. And

39:16

actually Time magazine defended this one too. They

39:18

wrote, the course was this exploration of the

39:20

hyper self awareness unique to the Oh

39:22

wow, I can't decide if I want to cheer bury my

39:24

head in the sands. But for the

39:27

purposes of this episode, I think you've

39:29

redeemed our university. So even though I was

39:31

going to counter with a fact about a tough class

39:33

called demystifying the Hipsture,

39:36

I'm gonna give you this week's trophy and I

39:38

will take it. And uh and and listeners,

39:40

don't forget to send us the name of your weirdest college

39:42

class you took or heard about. We can't wait

39:44

to choose the top three and you can send those

39:46

to part Time Genius at how stuff Works dot

39:48

com, or you can call our fact plotline

39:50

one, eight or four pt genius.

39:53

So thanks so much for listening to Yeah,

40:08

thanks again for listening. Part Time Genius is

40:10

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without several brilliant people who do the important

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things we couldn't even begin to understand. CHRISTA

40:17

McNeil does the editing thing. Noel Brown

40:19

made the theme song and does the MIXI mixy sounding.

40:22

Jerry Rowland does the exact producer thing.

40:24

Gaveluesier is our lead researcher, with support

40:26

from the research Army including Austin Thompson,

40:28

Nolan Brown and Lucas Adams and Eve Jeff

40:30

Cook gets the show to your ears. Good job, Eves.

40:33

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40:39

Jason? Jason who