Strange Classes you've taken

[Phanuthier]

Originally Posted by OilersBaby

Im prolly going to get some heat for this, but I think that the above statements I made are more true in the USA than Canada..there seems to be more opportunities to succeed in whatever you are good at here, then in Canada...

Very true. Lots of people with weird non-professional degrees, I ask them what they can do with them or where they can get a job, and true enough, you actually can get a job in that field. Back in Canada, it seemed like most jobs geared towards professionals (as far as university goes, not the trades).

[Stumptown]

I took a very rigorous 400-level French course on Surrealism. Not saying that the class itself was strange, but we read some really weird stuff.

[OilersBaby]

Originally Posted by Phanuthier

Very true. Lots of people with weird non-professional degrees, I ask them what they can do with them or where they can get a job, and true enough, you actually can get a job in that field. Back in Canada, it seemed like most jobs geared towards professionals (as far as university goes, not the trades).

Yeah and that's the thing..if you ask Canadians what a "professional" is, they will say something like engineer, accountant, chemist, or something. If you ask someone here, because of the fact that there are more opportunities, they will say that in addition to the above, getting a degree in geography, anthropology, or music history is also "professional". There essentially is no difference here.....yes, there are more jobs even here in the areas like computer science, but like I said before, you can get a job with majors that you really cant get by with in Canada. Like me for example, one of the degrees that I am currently pursuing is an MA in Communications (im going to 2 different schools at the same time to get 2 different degrees, yes, Im crazy, but its possible). My Canadian friends were like wtf? But here there are SOOOOOOO many opportunities for that, especially in management positions related to marketing. I dont know what a BA or MA in COmmunications woudl get you and most people in Canada prolly wouldnt really consider that to be "professional".

[Devils'Advocate]

I was the only atheist in a Religious Studies class (Religion's Role in Environmental Movement) for my humanities credit in university. That was the most fun class ever.

[valo403]

Originally Posted by OilersBaby

Yeah and that's the thing..if you ask Canadians what a "professional" is, they will say something like engineer, accountant, chemist, or something. If you ask someone here, because of the fact that there are more opportunities, they will say that in addition to the above, getting a degree in geography, anthropology, or music history is also "professional". There essentially is no difference here.....yes, there are more jobs even here in the areas like computer science, but like I said before, you can get a job with majors that you really cant get by with in Canada. Like me for example, one of the degrees that I am currently pursuing is an MA in Communications (im going to 2 different schools at the same time to get 2 different degrees, yes, Im crazy, but its possible). My Canadian friends were like wtf? But here there are SOOOOOOO many opportunities for that, especially in management positions related to marketing. I dont know what a BA or MA in COmmunications woudl get you and most people in Canada prolly wouldnt really consider that to be "professional".

I'm going to disagree, I got my undergrad degree in Canada and went to grad school in the US and the difference isn't as large as you've made it out to be. The market obviously isn't as large in Canada, but there's very little difference in the types of employment available. I know tons of people who obtained communications degrees in Canada and work in fields directly related to their study.

As for the professionals thing, I don't think I know anyone in the US who thinks that music historians and the like are "professionals". Maybe it's just a difference in the definition of professional, but professional remains limited to careers that require certification and licensing as far as most of the people I know are concerned.

The one major difference is that it seems like everyone goes to college in the US, regardless of what they want to do. People here really seem to have latched on to college as something they absolutely have to do, regardless of how unnecessary it may be for their future.

[GreenTeaFrapp]

Originally Posted by valo403

I'm going to disagree, I got my undergrad degree in Canada and went to grad school in the US and the difference isn't as large as you've made it out to be. The market obviously isn't as large in Canada, but there's very little difference in the types of employment available. I know tons of people who obtained communications degrees in Canada and work in fields directly related to their study.

I think a big part of that might have to do with comparing the US to Alberta. Somewhere like the Bay Area has a far more diversified economy then Alberta and there is a wider field of employment opportunities.

The one major difference is that it seems like everyone goes to college in the US, regardless of what they want to do. People here really seem to have latched on to college as something they absolutely have to do, regardless of how unnecessary it may be for their future.

I think this depends upon where you live in Canada and the US. Maybe in Alberta going to university might not be as important to kids coming out of high school because jobs are so easy to get but in my high school in Ottawa, I'd guess something like 90% of my graduating class went to university. The only ones who didn't were the ones who were pretty poor students to begin with.

[valo403]

Originally Posted by GreenTeaFrapp

I think a big part of that might have to do with comparing the US to Alberta. Somewhere like the Bay Area has a far more diversified economy then Alberta and there is a wider field of employment opportunities.



I think this depends upon where you live in Canada and the US. Maybe in Alberta going to university might not be as important to kids coming out of high school because jobs are so easy to get but in my high school in Ottawa, I'd guess something like 90% of my graduating class went to university. The only ones who didn't were the ones who were pretty poor students to begin with.

Both good points, the 'Alberta Advantage' is certainly limited to a few areas, and most collateral positions are tied in to that. That's true for most places though, whether it's banking in Charlotte or technology in silicone valley there's typically a predominant market force. Alberta definitely lacks diversification though, which could certainly make some degrees or professions fairly unsuited for the area.

I've only lived in a couple US cities, but I guess that could be right. I've never lived in the South, not sure on the outlook there, but I know that in the greater NYC area and the midwest attending university is almost a must. In my experience there seems to be a general notion that you have to go to university no matter what, but I guess that isn't really a Canada/US thing as much as it's a factor of the various economies. Like you said, there's often not a need to go to university to get a good job in Alberta, whereas you're typically at a disadvantage without post-secondary education elsewhere. One thing that is certainly different between the countries is the commercialization of education in the US, I think that factors in to the perception among many Americans that they absolutely must go to university, even if it's the University of Phoenix.

[peter12]

Originally Posted by Devils'Advocate

I was the only atheist in a Religious Studies class (Religion's Role in Environmental Movement) for my humanities credit in university. That was the most fun class ever.

What? Religious studies courses are almost entirely composed of atheists. It's not theology.

[peter12]

I'm a huge proponent of the arts and humanities. In fact, I would argue that they are the most essential education that a young person in the West can receive. To quote Allan Bloom,

"Education in our times must try to find whatever there is in students that might yearn for completion, and to reconstruct the learning that would enable them autonomously to seek that completion."

It's not about getting a job or "contributing" to society, but learning the roots of civilization and at least getting a glimpse of some of the beautiful things in life.

[Devils'Advocate]

Originally Posted by peter12

What? Religious studies courses are almost entirely composed of atheists. It's not theology.

Not at my university (Saint Mary's; Halifax). The program there does partner with the Atlantic School of Theology and many people in the class were looking to enter the clergy or whatnot....

I remember the teacher was late one day and the classroom was locked, so we were all sitting in the hallway and someone asked each person which church they attended. I said I was an atheist and all of a sudden I had 20 people trying to convert me all at once.

I remember a fair bit of that class.. far more than most of my other university courses. But the class that really stood out was when our assignment was to watch "Contact" and we discussed it in class. Sagan actually came up quite often in the course considering his "ties" to religion.

[troutman]

Originally Posted by peter12

I'm a huge proponent of the arts and humanities. In fact, I would argue that they are the most essential education that a young person in the West can receive. To quote Allan Bloom,


It's not about getting a job or "contributing" to society, but learning the roots of civilization and at least getting a glimpse of some of the beautiful things in life.

"Imagination is more important than knowledge." ~ Albert Einstein

"It takes a long time to become young." ~ Pablo Picasso

Only a mediocre artist is always at his best.

A job is what we do for money, work is what we do for love.

With every person born human, a poet, an artist is born,
the sad part is many die young and are survived by an adult.

When you do what you love, work and play is the same.

Invention is the natural outcome of creative thinking.

The saddest part of life is not death,
it is what dies inside of us while we live.

Talent is like electricity. We don't understand it, we just use it.

Art is neither a profession or a hobby. Art is a way of life.

We can do anything we want, if we just stick to it long enough.

Making art is a journey.

"I am always doing what I cannot do yet,
in order to learn how to do it" ~ Vincent Van Gogh

To create is always to learn, to begin over, to begin at zero.

Enthusiasm literally means "being filled with spirit".

"Art is our one true global language. It knows no nation,
it favors no race, and it acknowledges no class. It speaks to
our need to reveal, heal, and transform. It transcends our
ordinary lives and lets us imagine what is possible." ~ Richard Kamler

"Art isn't paint; it's love." ~ Philip Hicken

"I dream my paintings, then I paint my dreams." ~ Vincent Van Gogh

"If people knew how hard I worked to achieve my mastery, it wouldn't seem
so wonderful after all." ~ Michelangelo

http://www.sandysandy.com/art.html

[peter12]

Originally Posted by Devils'Advocate

Not at my university (Saint Mary's; Halifax). The program there does partner with the Atlantic School of Theology and many people in the class were looking to enter the clergy or whatnot....

I remember the teacher was late one day and the classroom was locked, so we were all sitting in the hallway and someone asked each person which church they attended. I said I was an atheist and all of a sudden I had 20 people trying to convert me all at once.

I remember a fair bit of that class.. far more than most of my other university courses. But the class that really stood out was when our assignment was to watch "Contact" and we discussed it in class. Sagan actually came up quite often in the course considering his "ties" to religion.

I just finished a class about The Bible and Film. The prof's thesis was that people view film in the same way they read the Bible. Basically, we learned a bunch of critical theory, watched films and then wrote endless pages of essays.

Really, really interesting class. The prof was also a hardcore cynic who debated just about everything with religious students in the class and crushed them entirely.

[Pokerface]

Media arts and Digital technology... let me explain (not for the faint of heart):

When I was in my first year of Art school (ACAD) I went into a media arts class thinking I'd be doing movie editing and stuff like that. My first day of the class should have tipped me off to what was to come. My instructor was one of these "new age" artists who did Jackass type stuff in a serious manner and called it art.. I should have transfered out after he gave his Bio.

My second class he says to us all "want to go see some performance art?". The fact that I was new and innocent to college and art school, I felt like I should follow along and experience college life and whatnot.

We get to a small room where two girls were dressed in shorts and tank tops and sitting on stools across from each other holding big bowls of strawberry ice cream. Music started playing and the girls started to eat... and eat... and eat... I began to think "man if they keep this up they'll be sick" and then BAM they start puking into the bowls... I thought "wow that was gross I'm glad its over"... but it wasn't they continued eating out of the same bowls they were puking into... this went on for awhile until the music stopped and they simply left the room without saying anything and other students clapping.... My instructor thought it was brilliant...

That was the worst/weirdest class ever.

[Iowa_Flames_Fan]

Last year I taught a class in Boston about the critical and political linkages between 20th-century mass culture and the historical avant-garde. The reading list included Gertrude Stein, hard-boiled detective fiction, Superman comic books, Chaplin's "Modern Times" and the second Maltese Falcon film adaptation (that's the one with Bogart).

I don't know that I ever TOOK a class as strange as that one--but based on evals, my students liked it. It wasn't an easy class at all--a lot of critical theory on top of the primary texts, a ton of writing, a formal presentation and an exam that (by all reports) was pretty tough.

The strangest class I ever TOOK was probably a grad course in British Romanticism. But that's because we had a professor who was, I think, clinically insane. A whole other story.

[Phanuthier]

Originally Posted by Pokerface

Media arts and Digital technology... let me explain (not for the faint of heart):

When I was in my first year of Art school (ACAD) I went into a media arts class thinking I'd be doing movie editing and stuff like that. My first day of the class should have tipped me off to what was to come. My instructor was one of these "new age" artists who did Jackass type stuff in a serious manner and called it art.. I should have transfered out after he gave his Bio.

My second class he says to us all "want to go see some performance art?". The fact that I was new and innocent to college and art school, I felt like I should follow along and experience college life and whatnot.

We get to a small room where two girls were dressed in shorts and tank tops and sitting on stools across from each other holding big bowls of strawberry ice cream. Music started playing and the girls started to eat... and eat... and eat... I began to think "man if they keep this up they'll be sick" and then BAM they start puking into the bowls... I thought "wow that was gross I'm glad its over"... but it wasn't they continued eating out of the same bowls they were puking into... this went on for awhile until the music stopped and they simply left the room without saying anything and other students clapping.... My instructor thought it was brilliant...

That was the worst/weirdest class ever.

ok that is really weird

[habernac]

we have a winner

[Pokerface]

Originally Posted by Phanuthier

ok that is really weird

It's funny too because by the time my first year was over I became accustomed to seeing weird stuff all the time, it was a toss up as to what you'd see every week. One week there would be naked people duct taped to a pillar, a guy being dragged around in chains, a bald naked chick crawling around on the floor painting herself and singing...

It was kind of like an insane asylum at times, they just covered it by saying it was Art. I just stayed on my floor and made comics and ads and stuff.

[Devils'Advocate]

Unfortunately, I think Pokerface is proving FoL's point.....

[troutman]

Originally Posted by Devils'Advocate

Unfortunately, I think Pokerface is proving FoL's point.....

Clearly that demonstration was a compelling and important examination of the human condition and our culture of consumption.

[Flashpoint]

I took an archaeology course where we went to the Calgary coroner's office and had a slide show showing the various stages of decomposition of the human body. Things like a homeless person who fell into the bow and died, and what he looked like when they pulled him out next spring. Or what was left after someone burned to death. The point was to show what parts of humans survive in the archaeological record, and ways to potentially determine cause of death.

We ran out of time before we got to the "mass casualties" event.

I actually found it to be absolutely fascinating material. Grisly though it was.