Here’s a collection of the seven most useless and excruciating general education classes you will encounter in your undergraduate education (which, by the way, costs on average 25 grand a year).
Pundits will tell you that a college education is not as rigorous as it used to be, and many classes are a waste of time. There is also a growing trend among colleges to steer students towards a more vocational-based education; however, not everyone has caved in, and many institutions of higher learning are still offering classes in such valuable subjects. Sure, a few will argue there is no such thing as a worthless degree, but try convincing your parents (or the bank) who pay for your classes the “educational merit” of some classes.
Here’s a collection of the seven most useless and excruciating general education classes you will encounter in your undergraduate education (which, by the way, costs on average 25 grand a year):
Introduction to Psychology: You’re probably not a psychology major, but your department insists you take Introduction to Psychology so you can be “more well-rounded”. Perhaps you can tolerate this class and satisfy that diversity requirement, but putting up with the newly minted freshmen psychology majors in the class who keep trying to psychoanalyze you after the first class session is a whole different story.
Communications: Communications might as well be officially confirmed as the major of most white Division 1A college athletes. Communication majors are the pun of most college jokes and a single class in this “discipline” will tell you why. You’ll probably be grouped with a few students who couldn’t decide on a major until their seventh year of college, and the only degree they could earn with such a random selection of classes was communications. Communications in itself isn’t half bad as a class; if there was ever an easy A, it’d be this class, but someone should point out to the overly enthusiastic majors in this field that if an employer wants to hire an expert on how humans communicate, they’d probably prefer someone with a Dr. before their name.
Gender, American, African, or Leisure Studies: These classes are also highly popular with Division 1 A college athletes, since for the most part they aren’t exactly banking on their education. Taking these classes can be a very enlightening experience – no doubt there. Unless, of course, you land a professor who spends the whole semester blaming you for every single bad thing that has happened to minorities and women. If you attend the University of Iowa, you can take classes in leisure studies, where you analyze, and analyze once again how people like to spend their free time.
Art History/Appreciation: Having the luxury of being able to muse over paintings from the eighth century sounds nice in theory, but in practicality, it’s a waste of most people’s time. Most of these classes are made up of well-off teenagers and your run of the mill hippies deliberating the meaning of Magritte’s drawings for three hour sessions, twice a week, for a full semester.
Learning from YouTube: Imagine a class where students watch YouTube videos and then discuss them. Such an option is available at Pitzer College in California, and if you think this class isn’t rigorous – you’re wrong! As part of the course requirement, students need to also leave comments on videos too.
1990s Popular Culture, Star Trek, or Legal Cinema: According to the University of Indiana ad George Washington University, Star Trek is worthy of its own course at reputable institutes of higher learning. We agree, can you come up with a better way to identify and critically discuss philosophy than watching all 79 episodes of Star Trek? Law students can learn more about their prospective career by taking a course on Legal Cinema; chances are the midterm will have plenty to do with Law and Order.
The Art of Walking and Learning to Golf: College needs to be accessible to everyone and should not discriminate against preschoolers; hence, Kentucky’s Centre College is offering this comprehensive course on walking. Learning to Golf is another class that will contribute to a very well-rounded and diverse Liberal Arts education and better prepare you to compete in the worldwide market, or it can be used as pretty damning evidence by those who thinks you don’t need a degree to become successful. Either way, sign us up.
Now, if you can’t manage to get into the above classes due to their popularity with the average college student, we have a few honorable mentions you could also consider: The American Vacation (perfect for Leisure Studies majors), Surfing Studies, Science of Harry Potter, and Medieval Studies.
