Shelley Bridgeman: You studied what at university?

10:02 AM Thursday Jun 14, 2012

Have you ever taken a uni paper just for the easy grades? Photo / Thinkstock

At Victoria University in the 1980s I took a paper called "Russian Civilisation" - which, from memory, mainly involved studying Russian icons and listening to the music of Rimsky-Korsakov - for an easy six credits towards my degree. The word around campus was that this particular paper had a 98 per cent pass rate and you could do a lot worse than sign up for it.

The lecture theatre was always packed. Evidently I wasn't the only one hell-bent on getting my education done and dusted as efficiently and effortlessly as possible. I hope our lecturer thought we were all budding historians with a keen interest in symphonies and religious imagery rather than cynical undergraduates with terminal laziness.

But if you think "Russian Civilisation" sounds like a flaky subject to study then please consider some of the gems available at other institutions of higher learning. Durham University offers a paper called "Harry Potter and the Age of Illusion" which aims "to place the phenomenon that is Harry Potter in its social, cultural and educational context". Don't you love how they make it sound all, like, brainy when, like, it's not really?

"Philosophy and Star Trek" is studied at Georgetown University. It wrestles with some awesome metaphysical questions including "Is time travel possible? Could you go back and kill your grandmother?" and "What is a person? Must you have the same body to be you?" Well, is it? Could you? Must you?
The following have also been offered recently at learned institutions around the world - okay, mainly in the US:

* "History of Lace Knitting in Shetland" - University of Glasgow
* "Campus Culture and Drinking" - Duke University
* "How to be Gay: Male Homosexuality and Initiation" - University of Michigan
* "The Science of Superheroes" - University of California, Irvine
* "The Art and Science of Beer: History, Technology and Culture"- Indiana University

It seems that the addition of the word "science" lends gravitas to almost any subject. Good to know.

I had a quick trawl around the University of Auckland's website and the best example I encountered was a Film, Television and Media Studies course called "Watching Television". Hey, I do that every evening. I wonder if "Emptying Dishwasher" and "Brushing Teeth" is also offered. But, wait, there's more. You can follow it up with FTVMS 309: a stage 3 paper also called "Watching Television". It's true.

Have you ever signed up for a university course with a title that made you wonder what people must think? What's the most imaginatively named paper or course you've encountered? Are universities just having a laugh? Or are they simply trying to make academic subjects appeal to the youth of today? And have you ever taken a paper just for easy credits?

BJ () | 12:18PM Thursday, 14 Jun 2012

What is the point of this article? There is so much to be learned about society and culture from taking such courses. Open your mind, Shelley. God forbid your child should ever do an Arts degree!

Hannah () | 12:18PM Thursday, 14 Jun 2012

I suppose that sensationalising the frivolity of university courses goes hand in hand with this climate of cutting allowances to tertiary students etc. Just to clarify, sometimes the University of Auckland will offer a combined course - taught to both stage 2 and 3 students simultaneously, but with different levels of assessment for each. I believe that 'Watching Television' is one of these combined courses and unable to be taken twice! Aside from that, I think that almost any course could be made to sound odd, too niche, or irrelevant to someone with a different academic background. I think we are missing out on the idea that learning is an end in itself, and universities should be seen as stimulating intellectual and creative ideas in our society, not just economic output.

YouKNOWItsTheTruth (New Zealand) | 12:18PM Thursday, 14 Jun 2012

I heard about one university in the UK offering Golf Green Keeping.
My easy A? Buddhism. Taken as one of three elective papers during a commerce degree.
That said, isn't it important to get a well-rounded education? Taking a couple of religion and language papers was arguably more beneficial and educational than me just doing 21 commerce papers. Surely that's the point of these elective papers that aren't related to your degree? To expose you to things that you may not otherwise be exposed to and to give you a broader education?