10 Reasons Scott Is Right About STEM; Without Anthropology

We all know our governor and Legislature are trying to refocus our higher education racket -- I mean, system -- to put a higher priority on majors that will actually produce a work force for the 21st century economy.

Here are some examples, though not from Florida, of why we should work on it.

(Original information from the Fiscal Times.
Course descriptions from the universities.
Commentary, mine.)

Geology and Cinema

University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
4 credits
$1,506.80 in-state, $2,168.32 out-of-state
Enrollment: 347.

Course includes getting your physical science courses from movies like "Tremors" and "Journey to the Center of the Earth."

Let me know when they predict the next "10" will be. Frankly, I prefer the Rick Wakeman version of "Journey," though. The movie's dull and the book's a bore. Jules Verne was a great thinker but a terrible writer. (The woman at UMTC who confirmed this course for me, by the way, was terrifically helpful in a terrifically Midwestern-charming kind of way.)

Lady Gaga and the Sociology of Fame

University of South Carolina, Columbia
3 credits
$1,200 in-state; $3,150 out-of-state
Enrollment: N/A.

Course description, for sociology students (naturally, a more useless -- and destructive -- academic discipline has never been invented): This lecture-based course focuses on societal elements in the rise of Lady Gaga's popularity to her global status as a pop music icon. The central objective of this course, then, is to unravel some of the sociologically relevant dimensions of the fame of Lady Gaga. -- includes analysis of "selected social issues related to the career of Lady Gaga."

Not sure if Bradley Manning is mentioned, but if he is, I imagine they're on his treasonous side.

The Phallus

Occidental College
$5,370 (based on eight-course-per-year load)
Enrollment: 15 (capacity: 15).

Course promises a survey of everything from the relation of the phallus to masculinity to the "whiteness of the phallus."

Seems like someone we all know went to Occidental College for two years. With any luck, he'll be out of the White House and teaching constitutional law there after November.

Joy of Garbage

Santa Clara University
4 credits
$4,881.00 (based on four-course average load)
Enrollment: 38 students (cap.: 40).

Course requires students to "follow the path of our waste products" which are apparently all "dumped on minority communities or shipped abroad."

This isn't really as silly as it sounds. If someone can find a way to convince the government to stop requiring toilets to flush less water -- therefore requiring them to be flushed more often -- maybe we'd all be better off.

Harry Potter: Finding Your Patronus

Oregon State University
$237.17 in-state; $681.17 out-of-state (based on 15 credits/semester)
Enrollment: N/A.

This is simply pathetic. Here's the first graph of the course intro: "Harry Potter's first day at Hogwarts was exciting, confusing and a little bit scary -- emotions that are not all that different than those experienced by many new college students nationwide."

Great. 1942's 18-year-olds took Guadalcanal back from the Japanese. Today's are considered 13-year-old emerging magicians. Any wonder they vote Democrat? (And that "different than" should be "different from." Maybe they're too childish for basic grammar.)

Theatrical Fencing

University of Wisconsin, Madison
1 credit
$331.00 in-state; $966 out-of-state
Enrollment: 17 (capacity was recently raised to 28 from 20 to accommodate demand).

Course description asserts that "good theatrical fencing is a distinct form of the art of swordcraft and worth of careful study."

Maybe FAMU's Marching 100 could benefit from this. Still, I liked it better when the King and the Duke were pulling the "Royal Nonesuch" in Huck Finn. At least that had some honesty to it.

DJ History, Culture and Technique

New York University
4 credits
$4,636.00
Enrollment: 7 (cap. 10).

Course introduction: "In this class, taught by famed DJs, producer, curator and Basement Bhangra founder DJ Rekha, and 2009 DMC World Champion, DJ Shiftee, students will develop fundamental turntable technique and hone practical skills that every DJ needs to succeed in the modern music industry."

Let me see, how about honing "practical skills" to "succeed in the modern music industry," like, say, learning to play an instrument?

Arguing with Judge Judy: Popular Logic' on TV Judge Shows

University of California, Berkeley
1 credit
$415.40 in-state; $1,178.03 out-of-state based on 15-credit load
Enrollment: N/A.

From the course description: "TV 'Judge' shows have become extremely popular in the last 3-5 years. A fascinating aspect of these shows from a rhetorical point of view is the number of arguments made by the litigants that are utterly illogical, or perversions of standard logic, and yet are used over and over again."

Sounds like the job description of a White House press secretary.

Sport for the Spectator

Ohio State University, Mansfield
3 credits
$278.25 (based on course load of 12 credits per semester)
Enrollment: N/A.

From the course description: "Develop an appreciation of sport as a spectacle, social event, recreational pursuit, business, and entertainment. Develop the ability to identify issues that affect the sport and spectator behavior."

Let's see, what were you watching Sunday? "Face the Nation"?

Learning from YouTube

Pitzer College
$5,318.75 (based on eight-course-per-year load)
Enrollment: 40.

From the course description: "YouTube widely promotes that its technology enables the democratic production and distribution of media content on this huge scale. So why is YouTube being used primarily to spoof mainstream media forms and what does this tell us about social media and our society?"

Well, for a start, why don't we just say the "mainstream media forms" only deserve spoofing? And if they get too upset, we might go as far as satire!