For $21k Per Year You Can Be 'Educated'

[Annie]

I think I'll take a closer look at my kids' 'course offerings' lists.

http://yaf.org/press/12_21_05.html

The Dirty Dozen
America’s Most Bizarre and Politically Correct College Courses

Princeton University’s Prostitute, Cross Dressing, and Same-Sex Eroticism Course ranked the most bizarre Class

HERNDON, VA – As tuition rates climb to an average of over $21,000 per year, today’s college students study prostitution, teeth whitening, and Beavis and Butthead. The following Dirty Dozen highlights the most bizarre and troubling instances of leftist activism supplanting traditional scholarship in our nation’s colleges and universities.

1.

Princeton University’s The Cultural Production of Early Modern Women examines “prostitutes,” “cross-dressing,” and “same-sex eroticism” in 16th - and 17th - century England, France, Italy and Spain (emphasis added).
2.

The Unbearable Whiteness of Barbie: Race and Popular Culture in the United States at Occidental College in California explores ways “which scientific racism has been put to use in the making of Barbie [and] to an interpretation of the film The Matrix as a Marxist critique of capitalism.”
3.

At The John Hopkins University, students in the Sex, Drugs, and Rock ‘n’ Roll in Ancient Egypt class view slideshows of women in ancient Egypt “vomiting on each other,” “having intercourse,” and “fixing their hair.”
4.

Like something out of a Hugh Hefner film, Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania offers the class Lesbian Novels Since World War II.
5.

Alfred University’s Nip, Tuck, Perm, Pierce, and Tattoo: Adventures with Embodied Culture, mostly made up of women, encourages students to think about the meaning behind “teeth whitening, tanning, shaving, and hair dyeing.” Special projects include visiting a tattoo-and-piercing studio and watching Arnold Schwarzenegger’s bodybuilding film, Pumping Iron.
6.

Harvard University’s Marxist Concepts of Racism examines “the role of capitalist development and expansion in creating racial inequality” (emphasis added). Although Karl Marx didn’t say much on race, leftist professors in this course extrapolate information on “racial oppression” and “racial antagonism."
7.

Occidental College—making the Dirty Dozen list twice—offers a course in Stupidity, which compares the American presidency to Beavis and Butthead.
8.

Students at the University of California—Los Angeles need not wonder what it means to be a lesbian. The Psychology of the Lesbian Experience reviews “various aspects of lesbian experience” including the “impact of heterosexism/stigma, gender role socialization, minority status of women and lesbians, identity development within a multicultural society, changes in psychological theories about lesbians in sociohistorical context.”
9.

Duke University’s American Dreams/American Realities course supposedly unearths “such myths as ‘rags to riches,’ ‘beacon to the world,’ and the ‘frontier,’ in defining the American character” (emphasis added).
10.

Amherst College in Massachusetts offers the class Taking Marx Seriously: “Should Marx be giving another chance?” Students in this course are asked to question if Marxism still has any “credibility” remaining, while also inquiring if societies can gain new insights by “returning to [Marx’s] texts.” Coming to Marx’s rescue, this course also states that Lenin, Stalin, and Pol Pot misapplied the concepts of Marxism.
11.

Brown University’s Black Lavender: A Study of Black Gay & Lesbian Plays “address[es] the identities and issues of Black gay men and lesbians, and offer various points of view from within and without the Black gay and lesbian artistic communities.”
12.

Students enrolled in the University of Michigan’s Topics in Literary Studies: Ancient Greek/Modern Gay Sexuality have the pleasure of reading a “wide selection of ancient Greek (and a few Roman) texts that deal with same-sex love, desire, gender dissidence, and sexual behavior.”

 

[The ClayTaurus]

12.

Students enrolled in the University of Michigan’s Topics in Literary Studies: Ancient Greek/Modern Gay Sexuality have the pleasure of reading a “wide selection of ancient Greek (and a few Roman) texts that deal with same-sex love, desire, gender dissidence, and sexual behavior.”

There's a lot worse offered at Michigan than this...

 

[fuzzykitten99]

Ya know, college costs would go way down if the places of higher education would stop making people take courses that have nothing to do with the degree that you are trying to achieve. They force you to fork out more money to feed the giant.

example: I wanted to get my associates in business management and marketing. I registered, got in, and was in the middle of getting all the info on what courses were needed to complete the degree requirements. As I went down the list, I found only 85% of the courses required, actually pertained to business management. The rest had to be elective classes, including gym, theater/arts, science classes, as well as similar courses to the above mentioned. I decided to go ahead and do one semester, at least taking some of the useful computer classes. I then realized I was going to have to take a 2nd job, aside from my FT one just to pay for the excess, useless courses. I finished the one semester, because I already paid for it, then said screw it.

I didn't qualify for financial aid because apparently, my parents (dad & stepmom) made too much, even though I didn't live with them, and they were having a hard time making ends meet. I was out on my own (well, living with Tim but we weren't married yet), and had been for over a year. They basically told me they couldn't help me and to mooch off my parents.

I bet had I not been white, the story would have been way different.

 

[Said1]

Ya know, college costs would go way down if the places of higher education would stop making people take courses that have nothing to do with the degree that you are trying to achieve. They force you to fork out more money to feed the giant.

example: I wanted to get my associates in business management and marketing. I registered, got in, and was in the middle of getting all the info on what courses were needed to complete the degree requirements. As I went down the list, I found only 85% of the courses required, actually pertained to business management. The rest had to be elective classes, including gym, theater/arts, science classes, as well as similar courses to the above mentioned. I decided to go ahead and do one semester, at least taking some of the useful computer classes. I then realized I was going to have to take a 2nd job, aside from my FT one just to pay for the excess, useless courses. I finished the one semester, because I already paid for it, then said screw it.

I didn't qualify for financial aid because apparently, my parents (dad & stepmom) made too much, even though I didn't live with them, and they were having a hard time making ends meet. I was out on my own (well, living with Tim but we weren't married yet), and had been for over a year. They basically told me they couldn't help me and to mooch off my parents.

I bet had I not been white, the story would have been way different.

Aside from gym, the other classes don't sound so bad. I have electives and fee electives not all of it is related to geography, but the majority of it is worth taking. As for the original list, I don't think many of those are offered.

 

[fuzzykitten99]

Aside from gym, the other classes don't sound so bad. I have electives and fee electives not all of it is related to geography, but the majority of it is worth taking. As for the original list, I don't think many of those are offered.

my purpose of going to college was to get the degree in business/marketing. Why is gym class worth my money when I learned all I needed to know from high school? What use do I have in the business world, for units on basketball, bowling, etc? If I wanted to get an extended education in phys ed, or theater or art classes, I would have taken THAT route. It would have been a big waste of my time and money, because I was there for a specific education in a specific major. If you want to take the extra courses, fine, but they should not be a requirement if they have NOTHING in common or association in any way with what your major is. I felt cheated out of time and money, and ultimately a college degree, because I could not afford classes like this. I could have afforded it had these classes not been required.

 

[Said1]

my purpose of going to college was to get the degree in business/marketing. Why is gym class worth my money when I learned all I needed to know from high school? What use do I have in the business world, for units on basketball, bowling, etc? If I wanted to get an extended education in phys ed, or theater or art classes, I would have taken THAT route. It would have been a big waste of my time and money, because I was there for a specific education in a specific major. If you want to take the extra courses, fine, but they should not be a requirement if they have NOTHING in common or association in any way with what your major is. I felt cheated out of time and money, and ultimately a college degree, because I could not afford classes like this. I could have afforded it had these classes not been required.

I have a college diploma in business accounting, walking to the bar after class was the most exercise many of the student got in college. I never set foot in the place though.

 

[Abbey Normal]

I don't know about bowling, but I think it is good to get a well-rounded liberal arts education, regardless of your major. You will never again get this good of a chance to expand your horizons. Plus, varied knowledge comes in very handy in business coversations and decision making, too.

 

[insein]

im with kitten on this one.

Been saying this for years. A College is a business. They are in business to make money off of you. The longer they keep you there and the more they make you take, the more money they make. How do you think they justify charging up to $21k a year for some of these ridiculous schools when a college degree doesnt even guarantee you a job anymore.

Take for example, my course requirements for "Business Administration." As fuzzykitten said, Its about 85% business and the other 15 is useless crap. I can understand needing math and science. I'll even take a stretch at American and World history so long as the teachers dont try to rewrite it (which alot do nowadays). Why though do you need 4 classes in English Composition? Why do you need Integration of Knowledge? Why are 30+ credits of Liberal Studies (aka random bullshit) mandatory for graduation at most colleges?

Answer: $$$$

 

[Abbey Normal]

Why though do you need 4 classes in English Composition?

Four may be too many, but I consider writing well to be an indispensable skill in any business career.

 

[fuzzykitten99]

I don't know about bowling, but I think it is good to get a well-rounded liberal arts education, regardless of your major. You will never again get this good of a chance to expand your horizons. Plus, varied knowledge comes in very handy in business coversations and decision making, too.

ok, what could I learn in a theater class, that i didn't learn from actually BEING in plays and theater groups in high school? What could I learn from a gym class that hadn't been taught in HS that has anything at all to do with running a business or marketing something? I saw the syllibus of the theater 1 class that was one of the elective options, and it had the same stuff as my 11th grade acting/theater elective class, almost like it was copied.

you know what they wanted for just one elective gym class? $750. My intermediate level spreadsheet class and business law classes together didn't cost that much, and I learned more in those than I would have in the gym class with units in the following:
swimming
basketball
general fitness
track/field
bowling
the rest i can't remember, but I had gym nearly every year of my school life. I never learned anything they hadn't taught the year before. The only difference was the year, the teacher, and the actual activities we did. What could they teach me in college that couldn't be taught in elementary, middle, and high school?

 

[fuzzykitten99]

here's a link to the local community college (very popular with the local kids to go before transferring to the U) for an associate's degree in business.

http://www.an.cc.mn.us/resources/pdf/degrees/BusinessAS.pdf

on the 2nd page, it gets more clear on what general education courses are required to graduate. I counted 7/11 that i KNOW to be liberal bullshit requirements, just from the titles alone. I believe that these courses are required to indoctrinate more people to the liberal way of thinking, judging by the course titles.

The 7 unnecessary credit requirements:
1. Natural Science courses, 2 required, with one lab.
-What the hell does this have to do with business? Absolutely nothing.
2.Humanities/Fine Arts (again 2 courses required)
-What the f*** for? Oh yeah, to rape you of your money for their pockets in exchange for a degree that doesn't even give much an advantage to getting a job anymore.
3.Human Diversity.
-Oh, c'mon, this speaks for itself. You have to pay someone to tell you that how you think is wrong, and to be just like everyone else, but different. Then you get a job at a major corporation and they make you take diversity training. It never ends.
4.Global Perspective.
-What? My guess it its another type of diversity class repackaged.
5.Ethic/Civic responsibility
-I guess since parents aren't automatically teaching this to their kids anymore, and neither are the schools (at least public schools) so people who are 18+ have to pay to have someone teach them what their parents (or even teachers) should have. Sad.
6.People & the environment.
-don't know what else this could be except a class to tell us the sky is falling and its all our fault.
7. Any HPER class. This is the phys ed one. No other explanation needed.

 

[The ClayTaurus]

here's a link to the local community college (very popular with the local kids to go before transferring to the U) for an associate's degree in business.

http://www.an.cc.mn.us/resources/pdf/degrees/BusinessAS.pdf

on the 2nd page, it gets more clear on what general education courses are required to graduate. I counted 7/11 that i KNOW to be liberal bullshit requirements, just from the titles alone. I believe that these courses are required to indoctrinate more people to the liberal way of thinking, judging by the course titles.

The 7 unnecessary credit requirements:
1. Natural Science courses, 2 required, with one lab.
-What the hell does this have to do with business? Absolutely nothing.
2.Humanities/Fine Arts (again 2 courses required)
-What the f*** for? Oh yeah, to rape you of your money for their pockets in exchange for a degree that doesn't even give much an advantage to getting a job anymore.
3.Human Diversity.
-Oh, c'mon, this speaks for itself. You have to pay someone to tell you that how you think is wrong, and to be just like everyone else, but different. Then you get a job at a major corporation and they make you take diversity training. It never ends.
4.Global Perspective.
-What? My guess it its another type of diversity class repackaged.
5.Ethic/Civic responsibility
-I guess since parents aren't automatically teaching this to their kids anymore, and neither are the schools (at least public schools) so people who are 18+ have to pay to have someone teach them what their parents (or even teachers) should have. Sad.
6.People & the environment.
-don't know what else this could be except a class to tell us the sky is falling and its all our fault.
7. Any HPER class. This is the phys ed one. No other explanation needed.

I think you want more of a tradeschool-style education. You don't get a degree just to specialize in business. A college degree is viewed as more than just "I am an authority on business and nothing else."

The science I don't have a problem with, it goes towards, as Abbey said, a well-rounded education. A little science never hurt anyone.

2-6 may seem like bullshit to you, but it's a part of the business world. You have to be able to understand and not piss off your clients, unless you somehow manage to find one of those niche situations like the guy in Ohio running that bar. 95% of business is sucking up to some asshole you don't agree with. 2-6 teach you how to do it. If you think you don't have to kiss ass to suceed in business, well, I don't know what to tell you.

I never had to take any phys ed stuff in college, so I don't know what the deal on that is. It sounds like bullshit to me, but then again, this country could use a lesson or two just on nutrition. If they really just teach you how to bowl and shoot baskets, then I'll agree that it's bullshit.

At the bigger insitutions, your education comes with a reputation behind it, which sometimes drives the requirements you may think are bullshit. But it's less that they give a shit whether you know about something superfluous as much as it is the school's reputation. At community colleges, I can understand your gripe more, because it's a credit hour by credit hour thing. At the larger schools, you're paying for your degree and the reputation that comes with it.

 

[Annie]

I have to go with Clay and Abbey on this one, a college degree does have more behind it than just a major. If one wants a 'specialized certificate' in say business, there are schools that do that, as well as most community colleges.

What I do find a bit misleading on Clay's part, the printing of the requirements from a jr. college-since the whole point of a 'jr. college' AA degree is to fulfill the 'gen. ed' requirements of a 4 year degree. I wonder, Clay, does that communitiy college offerings include the type of courses found in the first post? My guess is not, as too many 'degreed' citizens look through the course offerings and would complain that their tax dollars are being spent that way. However when we send our 17 or 18 year olds off to U of I or Penn State, we have them sign up for their first semester, ask them what they are taking, but rarely look at the course offering book. I know that when my sons went to university, all I heard was:

English
History
Science
Math
gym

The gym was one course above 'required' load and so many phy ed required for graduation. Truth to tell, they knew from high school that I expected them to go above the 'minimum hours' so they threw the gym course in.

My daughter began at the community college, as she has learning disabilities. I knew what actual courses she was taking, because I saw the texts around the house and the 'offerings' came through the post. Not so at an 'away' school.

 

[Abbey Normal]

ok, what could I learn in a theater class, that i didn't learn from actually BEING in plays and theater groups in high school? What could I learn from a gym class that hadn't been taught in HS that has anything at all to do with running a business or marketing something? I saw the syllibus of the theater 1 class that was one of the elective options, and it had the same stuff as my 11th grade acting/theater elective class, almost like it was copied.

you know what they wanted for just one elective gym class? $750. My intermediate level spreadsheet class and business law classes together didn't cost that much, and I learned more in those than I would have in the gym class with units in the following:
swimming
basketball
general fitness
track/field
bowling
the rest i can't remember, but I had gym nearly every year of my school life. I never learned anything they hadn't taught the year before. The only difference was the year, the teacher, and the actual activities we did. What could they teach me in college that couldn't be taught in elementary, middle, and high school?

I agree on the gym course, kitten. If you don't have an interest in athletics or fitness by the end of high school, there's no point forcing it on anyone in College. And if you do have an interest, you really don't need a gym class anyway. I was arguing in favor of a liberal arts well-rounded education. Literature, history, philosophy, etc. Which I did get, and never had to take gym or bowling, lol.

 

[Said1]

When I took accounting at the college level after high school, that is all the program offered - accounting, economics, math, business english and that's about it. Very intensive two year program. There is a big difference between college and universities in Canada in that colleges rarely offer degrees of any kind but college credits can, in some cases, be brought forward to universities if you go within 5 years. I lost any applicable college credits, but profs are pretty good about giving special permission if you can produce your college transcripts. I think I had one free elective per semester in my second year at college, but those electives were management or program realted courses.