No wunder ours kidz is stoopid II. These are REAL college courses.

reply to post by FortAnthem


I don't think it's just to call a course stupid without knowing what the course material is. In other words we shouldn't just a book by its cover.

Yes, some of these courses may seem stupid to someone not involved in the field that it's in, but it could be highly relevant to the field of study. The course about invented languages, for example, could be highly valuable to someone studying linguistics and/or someone who wants to try and invent a language that could be used the world over. Philosophy and Star Trek could be of interest, and importance, to someone studying philosophy, more specifically one studying who philosophical thoughts have influenced popular culture, or something along those lines.

After noticing the link in the OP I followed it to the course description for the Star Trek course. I sure hope my kid never has to ponder topics like these:

III. What is the relation between a person's mind and his functioning brain--are they separate substances or identical? Can persons survive death? Can computers think? Is Data a person?
IV. What is a person? When do we have one person, and when do we have two (think of the episodes where people "split" or are "fused")?
V. Do people have free will, or are they determined by the laws of nature to do exactly what they wind up doing, while believing they have free will? Or both? What is free will?

Given how critical ATSers tend to be about history as we know it, I'm surprised that someone would critize the Harry Potter class, given that they tackle such questions as:

This course will engage students with questions about the very nature of history. Who decides what history is? Who decides how it is used or mis-used? How does this use or misuse affect us?

It should be clear to anyone that the professors for these courses are using pop-culture references as a spring board into the topic; you know to garner interest for the class.

I agree -- people are laughing at the titles without understanding the concepts behind them.

For example, the Artificial Languages one (which most folks may not have encountered before) -- artificial languages are used in developing sophisticated and complex computer languages (right now, we have no good computer tools for programming speech... as an example.) Artificial Languages would also be useful in attempting to find ways to communicate with other species such as dolphins. Language is an extraordinarily complex subject, and Klingon (a usable artificial language constructed by a real linguist) is considered a classic model of how to develop an artificial language.

I own my own computer/networking consulting business, and I guarantee that if Joe blow or Mary Jane come a knocking on my door for a job with “the science of superheroes” and/or “what if Harry Potter is real” on their resume, he/she will not be working for me.

And if you’re in college paying for these classes, don’t b!tch and moan when you see the bill…!