10 Utterly Worthless (And Real) College Courses You Can Enroll In

Pretty much everyone who has attended a college or university has either attended a throw-away or 'joke' course, or at least have heard of one offered on their campus...

Something akin to 'Underwater Basket Weaving 101'

These were courses taken because they were 3 credits, seemed like it was an easy 'A' to help the ole' GPA and preferably something one wouldn't have to really study or take notes on.

But with college tuition more expensive than ever, courses of this type seem more frivolous than ever before.

Perhaps its that a student loan feels so painless and something to worry about way off in the future, that students take silly courses that do not truly benefit towards acquiring skills needed for a career..

Interesting side bar on student loans that seems to be a trend-- lendees taking out larger student debt loans than what is needed to cover tuition, books, board and college related activities.

The student loan lenders are more than happy to loan $5k or $10k a year more than what is needed annually to get an education.  They know the lendee has no choice but to pay it back.. its not a car loan or credit card advance.. can't discharge it in bankruptcy...

And the 18-21 year old is more than happy to have this extra cash to throw away on trendy clothes, a new car, a down payment on a home or simply to survive and use to pay immediate bills.

That's how things work today.. a 'borrow from Peter to pay Paul' economy...

So back to joke courses.. We're going to provide a list of some funny but genuine courses offered at certain schools around the nation that you or your child can throw money down the drain to attend..

These are Real college or University courses:

*  "Lady Gaga and the Sociology of Fame" (The University Of South Carolina) - Aims to analyze her music, videos, fashion, and other artistic endeavors.

*  "GaGa for Gaga: Sex, Gender, and Identity" (The University Of Virginia) -  Students analyze how the musician pushes social boundaries with her work.

~ Who knew this ugly looking woman was That popular?

* "What If Harry Potter Is Real?" (Appalachian State University) - Engages students with questions about the very nature of history. Who decides what history is? Who decides how it is used or mis-used?

Students will also examine issues of race, class, gender, time, place, the uses of space and movement, the role of multiculturalism in history as well as how to read a novel and how to read scholarly essays to get the most out of them.

~ Forcing students to embrace revisionist history and the indoctrination of multiculturalism in curriculum is bad enough..  But to attach that to a fictitious character of children's literature created solely to line the pockets of J.K. Rowling is a bit pathetic

* "Invented Languages: Klingon and Beyond" (The University Of Texas) - Learn about the art, ideas, and goals behind invented languages using diverse sources from literature, the internet, films, video games, and other aspects of popular culture.

*  "Learning From YouTube" (Pitzer College) - Students meet in a classroom but work mostly online, where they view YouTube content and post their comments.  Class lessons also are posted and students are encouraged to post videos.

~ We dare anyone to put on their resume they attended either of those two courses when seeking out a job and wanted to be taken seriously by their employer...

*  "Elvis As Anthology" (The University Of Iowa) - Focuses on Presley’s relationship to Black history, social change, and aesthetics. It focuses not just on Elvis, but on other artists who inspired him and whom he inspired.

* "Arguing with Judge Judy" (UC Berkeley) - Focuses on illogical arguments and fallacies plaintiffs and defendants make on such TV "Judge" shows and Why such strategies are so widespread.

This is NOT a course about law or "legal reasoning.", the application of law or the operations of the court system in general.   Students who are interested in logic, argument, TV, and American popular culture will probably be interested in this course.

~ See the trend-- either young people are genuinely so uninterested in education that the only way Professors can get through to them is via popular culture figures much the way blogs may inject naked pics of women to attract readers to focus on the actual content (cough.. cough... ~dabs brow)  Or..  Its the only way the instructors themselves can make the dry material palatable enough to teach

*  "Far Side Entomology" (Oregon State) - For the last 20 years, a scientist at Oregon State University has used Gary Larson's cartoons as a teaching tool about insects.

* "Zombies in Popular Media" (Columbia College) - This course explores the history, significance, and representation of the zombie as a figure in horror and fantasy texts.

*  "The Textual Appeal of Tupac Shakur" (University of Washington) - Not the first college with a class dedicated to Shakur -- classes on the deceased thug rapper have been offered at the University of California Berkeley and Harvard -- but it is the first to relate Shakur's work to literature.

We understand these 10 courses are exceptions to the rule and tend to be used as shock value to make points about the deterioration of education and the greater society..

But the fact these courses are offered at all and there's an eager student body excited to take them, shows both how truly dumbed down we are getting and why obtaining a bachelor's degree in today's job market is essentially meaningless.