Strange Classes you've taken

[Rory_B._Bellows]

Originally Posted by Flame Of Liberty

Wow I must admit I am shocked after reading this thread, I mean I've heard a lot of bad things about Canadian education system but I would have never imagined it was this bad.

Something for you to chew on. I teach at a high school (I know we are talking about Uni here) but last semester we had a group of high ranking Australian teachers/administrators come to our district to learn how we as a district and teachers are teaching using technology, and our curriculum. Smartboards and such...most have never heard of them or seen them. After discussing with them about our (math) curriculum, alot of them said that what I was teaching in grade 11, was intro math in University in Australia. I have been told on numerous occasions that the Alberta curriculum is one of the most rigourous ones out there in the entire world. At many conferences (IB) I have been to with teachers from around the world, they are amazed at how dificult the Alberta Curriculum is.

Currently we have an exchange teacher from Australia teaching in our school and they routinely say that we have harsher standards.

Please elaborate on the statement on what you have heard about our education system.

[Phanuthier]

Originally Posted by Rory_B._Bellows

Something for you to chew on. I teach at a high school (I know we are talking about Uni here) but last semester we had a group of high ranking Australian teachers/administrators come to our district to learn how we as a district and teachers are teaching using technology, and our curriculum. Smartboards and such...most have never heard of them or seen them. After discussing with them about our (math) curriculum, alot of them said that what I was teaching in grade 11, was intro math in University in Australia. I have been told on numerous occasions that the Alberta curriculum is one of the most rigourous ones out there in the entire world. At many conferences (IB) I have been to with teachers from around the world, they are amazed at how dificult the Alberta Curriculum is.

Currently we have an exchange teacher from Australia teaching in our school and they routinely say that we have harsher standards.

Please elaborate on the statement on what you have heard about our education system.

A sad state of the world education system

What was grade 11 math? Trig? Oh nos...

[Pokerface]

Originally Posted by troutman

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

It's an interesting cycle, they (these contemporary artists) criticize our society and our government, yet cannot survive without their approval and funding. I'm not categorizing all artists this way but very few people I graduated with can actually support themselves through their art thus needing government grants. Also to FoL's point these people are getting all out degree's and grants to throw up in buckets...

As for the girls they were apparently discussing their dislike of women abusing their bodies for beauty.

[flip]

Originally Posted by Antithesis

I took a 4th-year course at the U of A entitled "Comic Books and Graphic Novels".

ENGL 395 (which I'm in thanks to a recommendation from Rathji IIRC) has The Dark Knight Returns, Watchmen, Fable and something else I can't remember on the reading list for Fall 2009. At least that is what the U of C library would lead me to believe, obviously course outlines aren't available yet in July. Keep in mind I could be very wrong, I am only going by what I saw on the tags when I was browsing and I don't think they've been updated for fall 2009, but IIRC it was the same instructor and course, only the tags were from Winter 09.

[octothorp]

Originally Posted by Pokerface

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.

If you don't mind me asking, which instructor was that, and what year? I know a few of the instructors there and have met most of them at various events, so I'm curious to know who it was.

[chid]

Originally Posted by Pokerface

It's an interesting cycle, they (these contemporary artists) criticize our society and our government, yet cannot survive without their approval and funding. I'm not categorizing all artists this way but very few people I graduated with can actually support themselves through their art thus needing government grants. Also to FoL's point these people are getting all out degree's and grants to throw up in buckets...

As for the girls they were apparently discussing their dislike of women abusing their bodies for beauty.

Many artists, including myself do these things purely for the discourse they create. They clearly know who funds them but don't you think it is funny that they get funding and are allowed to express these criticisms in a creative (sometimes) fashion? Art - esp. contemporary art IMO has a main function to force its viewers into shock / displeasure / enjoyment ONLY for the dialogue it creates and the thoughts it provokes

[tete]

I took a religion course at the University of Manitoba called "Death and Concepts of Afterlife" - taught by Rabbi Neil Rose - he was the neatest guy. It was absolutely fascinating - learning about different cultures and their funeral and burial practices, having a few guest speakers - did you know you could be buried in tupperware? And finally, part of the course was to plan your own funeral. That was a bit odd, I have to tell you.

If you showed up to class and did the super easy assignments, it was an easy A. Heck, as long as you did the assignments you were fine - he'd basically hand feed you the answers to the midterm and final. It was my one and only A+ in my undergrad.

[4X4]

Originally Posted by chid

Many artists, including myself do these things purely for the discourse they create. They clearly know who funds them but don't you think it is funny that they get funding and are allowed to express these criticisms in a creative (sometimes) fashion? Art - esp. contemporary art IMO has a main function to force its viewers into shock / displeasure / enjoyment ONLY for the dialogue it creates and the thoughts it provokes

Hmm. That explains the artist that thought it was art to cover a Paris hotel room in melted cheese.

[Jayems]

I took a speech class (intro to public speeking) at MRC. It was actually at the urge of a few posters here. It was a pretty lax class, but man, some took it waaay too serious. Bickering over .5% on the midterm (because you give it to 1/2 of the class, if that makes sense).

Either way, odd class. Teacher was cool.

[bcb]

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.

Wanted:

Two good looking women to pose as models for first year art students

(Preference given to those willing to eat their own vomit.)

[bcb]

Originally Posted by Rory_B._Bellows

Something for you to chew on. I teach at a high school (I know we are talking about Uni here) but last semester we had a group of high ranking Australian teachers/administrators come to our district to learn how we as a district and teachers are teaching using technology, and our curriculum. Smartboards and such...most have never heard of them or seen them. After discussing with them about our (math) curriculum, alot of them said that what I was teaching in grade 11, was intro math in University in Australia. I have been told on numerous occasions that the Alberta curriculum is one of the most rigourous ones out there in the entire world. At many conferences (IB) I have been to with teachers from around the world, they are amazed at how dificult the Alberta Curriculum is.

Currently we have an exchange teacher from Australia teaching in our school and they routinely say that we have harsher standards.

Please elaborate on the statement on what you have heard about our education system.

I totally agree. The Alberta (and Canadian) education system are top notch.

Part of the reason is because we have standard curriculum, whereas in the States and other places, local boards and even individual teachers make the curriculum.

[octothorp]

Originally Posted by Jayems

I took a speech class (intro to public speeking) at MRC. It was actually at the urge of a few posters here. It was a pretty lax class, but man, some took it waaay too serious. Bickering over .5% on the midterm (because you give it to 1/2 of the class, if that makes sense).

Either way, odd class. Teacher was cool.

Was that the one where you needed to lie on your back in a dark room and roll a tennis ball around under the palms of your hands and make droning noises? If so, I took that one too!

[Berger_4_]

Originally Posted by bcb

I totally agree. The Alberta (and Canadian) education system are top notch.

Part of the reason is because we have standard curriculum, whereas in the States and other places, local boards and even individual teachers make the curriculum.

Yup. I have some friends in the States looking into schools for next year and they said they found the Canadian universities to be way to demanding for what they were used to. And the people I know are top of the class students...they don't screw around haha.

[Jayems]

Originally Posted by octothorp

Was that the one where you needed to lie on your back in a dark room and roll a tennis ball around under the palms of your hands and make droning noises? If so, I took that one too!

haha nope, at least we didn't do that!

[Rathji]

Originally Posted by flip

ENGL 395 (which I'm in thanks to a recommendation from Rathji IIRC) has The Dark Knight Returns, Watchmen, Fable and something else I can't remember on the reading list for Fall 2009. At least that is what the U of C library would lead me to believe, obviously course outlines aren't available yet in July. Keep in mind I could be very wrong, I am only going by what I saw on the tags when I was browsing and I don't think they've been updated for fall 2009, but IIRC it was the same instructor and course, only the tags were from Winter 09.

I wish I could have registered in that one, I am in Eng 393, which is Sci Fiction I think, because it runs Saturdays and that is what my current work schedule will allow.

[OilersBaby]

Originally Posted by bcb

I totally agree. The Alberta (and Canadian) education system are top notch.

Part of the reason is because we have standard curriculum, whereas in the States and other places, local boards and even individual teachers make the curriculum.

Yup, that's totally true. It doesnt matter if someone graduated from a high school in Calgary, Olds, Fort McMurray, Edmonton, or Lethbridge....the curriculum will be the same because everyone has to take the same Diploma exam. Here, there is no such thing as a high school exit exam or a standardized test to gain entrance into a university. This is why when you apply to a university, they don't really have as many pre-reqs like we do when applying to University. They might say a year of high school English or something like that, but not a specific class because its going to be so different from one school to the next. You pretty much make up the deficiences in university for whatever you were lacking in high school. For example, suppose I wanted to major in Biology and get a BSc in Bio from a uni...its okay if you didnt take a single bio class in high school...you will just start off with intro bio uni and work your way up from tehre.

The reason for this thinking is because most American educators/university systems believe that it's very hard for a kid in grade 9 or 10 to decide "what they want to be when they grow up", so if you miss taking bio in high school..you cant get into university as a Bio Major if you later decide you want to major in it...(unless you upgrade). Because there is so much difference between high school curricula in the US, they just want their university students to take the classes that matter in uni.

And I thought of another wierd university class I took - Career and Life Planning. Seriously, it was a 2 credit class designed to help me figure out whwat I wanted to be..but it was SO easy, all you did is explore careers. It was more like a high school level class.

[Berger_4_]

Originally Posted by OilersBaby

And I thought of another wierd university class I took - Career and Life Planning. Seriously, it was a 2 credit class designed to help me figure out whwat I wanted to be..but it was SO easy, all you did is explore careers. It was more like a high school level class.

We have that exact class (well it's called CALM...Career and Life Management) in grades 10 through 12 at my old school. It was ######ed...just screwed around looking at jobs on ALIS and making a portfolio...easiest A I got in high school!

[OilersBaby]

Yup, I took CALM in high school as well (I went to high school in Fort McMurray)...and so when I had to take this CRLP (Career and Life Planning) crap in uni, it was so dumb! What a waste of credits....but hey, got the A and got 2 units out of the way!

[3 Justin 3]

Wow these English classes seem actually decent. I am going for my 1st year at MRC this fall and I have English 1101 and it is "Critical Writing and Reading". I swear to god if I have to read Shakespeare I am going to kill myself.


CALM sucked. It was super easy, but my teacher was a dick. I found it funny how one of the guys in my class failed twice, and it was his third time taking it. You need CALM to get your diploma I think, thus he had to keep re-doing it. And I think he still failed the 3rd time.

[Vulcan]

At one time grade 12 in Alberta was recognized as equivalent to first year university at UBC. It wasn't that BC education was bad as it got the same recognition as the rest of Canadian provincial educations, it's just that Alberta had the best education system. Nowadays there probably isn't much difference province to province.