Most Unorthodox College Courses
 

I'm certain there have been more bizarre or unexpected ones elsewhere, but then again, the point of the thread is flushing them out.

What's the oddest classes you've seen crop up at a college, either yours or one you've heard about?

I know I've seen one about Asian Shooting flicks. I know this won't end up being rhetorical, but does anyone have anything more peculiar?

There's a class here for western haiku. I guess I can see a class on haiku in general, but one that focuses on the west? I always found it bizarre.

Er, it's not really that odd in this day and age, but there are at least 20 classes of Gay Fiction Studies at UCLA.

Apparently, they spend a semester (1 unit) studying about how all characters in all stories show signs of homosexuality, from Huckleberry Finn's apparent moves toward Tom, to Holly Short's unnatural affection for 'mud men.'

Underwater basket weaving.
I forget where it was, but it was at one of the multiple universities in Grand Rapids, MI.

I dont think many people can top that.

We have that here in Oregon :/ we also have a normal basket weaving class taught by some local native americans...

There's a special topics course in the math department next semester completely devoted to the Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapse.

There was a university (I forget the name), in Wales which had a degree in wine tasting.

My university itself made me study the 'lega systems of Asia and Africa' as a module when I'm studying English law, that sucked.

One of my college courses is flight training - we go up for 1-3 hour lessons with instructors, or 3-5 hour long cross country trips...

There was a winemaking course at my old College. Surprisingly enough, all the jocks enrolled so there was a lot of dry humor flying around the classroom about "making your own shit" and "getting crunk". I swear, some of the people you meet later on are as retarded as in high school.

Id probably take that too. But I wouldnt drink it, Id sell it to family and friends :fish:

Im not in college so I cant really reply to this but, I could only imagine the professors for some of these classes.

Welcome to the truths of college. :)

I'm sure there's another college out there that has student created and student run courses. Here at Cal, we've had a program called DeCal (Democratic Education at Cal) where there have been student-initiated classes for about 40 years. So in recent history, I can remember there being DeCals for "Simpsons and Philosophy", "Intro to DJing", "Breakdancing", and "African Drumming".

Leave it to the students to make the most interesting courses.

Whaaa...? What is it exactly? Like, you jump in a pool with all your material and start weaving while holding your breath, then come back up, take another breath, and go back to work on your basket?

Oh, and weirdest I've seen is "Chemistry of wine", which is essentially winemaking. Not exactly that special.

One of my brother's old roommates took glassblowing.. but that doesn't really compare to underwater basketweaving.

Our English department has become an arena for professors to make their darkest literary desires come true.

Cases in point: last semester, we had a class entirely on Harry Potter and the literary study of the books (probably had a huge unit on the homosocial bonding between Harry and Ron...). I'm taking another this semester, a class on westerns in literature. So we actually are assigned Louis L'Amour books and John Wayne films as texts! I plan to write a paper on Firefly/Serenity for that one.

Here at my college, we have a course on Mycology, which is the study of mushrooms. Sounds like it would be very entertaining. I've heard that the professor will just randomly say "mushrooms are so awesome".

I have no idea what goes on in these classes. I just heard about them, and saw them in the undergraduate catalog.

Like Rollins, my school has student-taught courses (we call them StuCo, though). Here's a small sampling of what's offered this semester.

No Limit Texas Hold'em Poker
Fun with Robots
Introduction to Anime (I can't imagine how much I'd hate the people in that class. 33% of the school's population is asian and I bet it's white kids teaching it.)
Designing Disney: The Art & Theory of Theme Park
Wit Lit: What is Funny?
Safe Sex Practices
Dream Study: Internal Guide for Living One's Life

For non-StuCo courses, I'd have to say my favorite is "Acting for Non-Majors." They spend the first half of the course getting comfortable speaking infront of a group.