For some time, I have been a voice in the wilderness trying to warn the nation of the growing problem of zombies in confrontations with police and traffic accidents. Now, at least one academic is with me. Arnold Blumberg at the University of Baltimore is offering a course on Zombies. Designated English 333, Zombie studies could produce a small cadre of Zombie-ready graduates to deal with the undead.
Blumberg is the author of “Zombiemania,” a book on zombies in culture and the curator of Geppi’s Entertainment Museum. Students will watch 16 movies on zombies and read zombie comics. Sweet. They can then skip a final and instead draw storyboards for zombie flicks.
My God, this idea is the type of thing that would only be thought of by a brain-dead, aimlessly walking . . . Zombie!
Source: Yahoo
Jonathan Turley
Spelling correction: “analitically” shuld have been analytically.
Buddha,
I think a young person can get a high quality college education and learn how to think without taking a “zombie” course. I believe the “zombie” course being taught at the University of Maryland is an English course. I would guess that there may be many better ways to teach kids about the language of our modern culture and how to think critically/analitically than this. A course that had students take an in-depth look at the language and catch phrases used by politicians and the media might be a good place to start.
Elaine,
Don’t get me wrong. I feel there should certainly be a balance between classes like this and the classics. I just think they can have a place and value in a modern curriculum. If all one took were classes like these, it would be a waste as the content – the what you learn to think – needs contrast to be of value as well. IMO teaching how to think is a large part of being well educated, but having a broad sample space of raw data to apply those skills to is critical to the education being well rounded.
James and Buddha,
I agree that it comes down to the teacher–but, I think, subject matter is pertinent to the discussion of whether I–as a parent–would have been willing to pay thousands of dollars for my daughter to take a college “zombie” course. The two of you are assuming that this “zombie” course is going to be rigorous and that the instructor will be teaching his students valuable analytical skills–maybe…maybe not. I’d like to read the course syllabus and to find out more about the course before I come to the same conclusion as the two of you.
Having students watch 16 classic zombie films (including “Zombi 2,” in which a zombie fights a shark), read zombie comics and, write scripts or draw storyboards for their ideal zombie flicks doesn’t strike me as all that rigorous. Call me a skeptic when I ask: “Where’s the beef?”
BTW, I have never heard of “Zombi 2.” Is it really a film classic? Are there actually 16 “classic” zombie films?
*****
Buddha,
Believe me when I say I’m not fixated on the classics. I think there is high quality contemporary literature that would appeal to plenty of college students–and maybe inspire them to read more–and more enthusiastically.
http://www.degreetutor.com/library/choosing-degree/weird-classes
note the course on Philosophy and Star Trek….at Georgetown University
and for the lawyers there’s… Arguing with Judge Judy: Popular ‘Logic’ on TV Judge Shows…
http://www.onlinecolleges.net/2009/02/25/the-15-strangest-college-courses-in-america/
I no longer feel cheated that I didn’t get to further my degree….turns out I’ve been studying all along!
😉
SM,
Here’s the latest I’ve found: http://www.9news.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=151931&catid=339
Gyges Anything about the fires today. Son is right next to the evacuation line. I have one child in hurricane rains with a leaky roof and the other one might have to be evacuated due to fire.
James,
I’m guessing an English Zombie class would be pretty close to what your imagine the historical zombie class to be. It’d probably just have a bit closer analysis of it’s role in literature, and a more technical look at style.
Byron,
I imagine that if you looked at the courses on Science fiction, and the course on Zombies, you’d be amazed that they teach the same thing. Like I keep repeating: People are people.
Elaine,
I’m with James on this one. It comes down to the teacher more than the subject matter. I had classes that were of the supposedly classical nature that taught me nothing while I had others that one would call a fluff class that taught valuable analytical skills. The main difference between them was how the materials were presented, what the instructor expected out of your work and how they prepared (or didn’t prepare) you to deliver upon those expectations.
HenMan
1, September 8, 2010 at 2:42 pm
Blouise said: “I got a PE credit out of the way during a winter semester by taking golf…in the gymnasium…little whiffle balls…kid’s play clubs…it was great.” Was this by any chance at Glenn Beck University? I’m sorry, but I’ve had a case of Smart-Ass Syndrome ever since I got up this morning- the only cure for it is a slapstick to the keester and it’s busted.(The slapstick, not the keester).
============================================================
Off with your head!
Swmom,
Conservatories were my higher education destinations during my teenage years. One was expected to go where the “visiting” teacher/maestro was presently enthroned and after investing inordinate amounts of time auditioning for acceptance, spend a year or two with each being tortured. I went to three and all credits transferred nicely so I could graduate before my 21st birthday and get going in the career. Perhaps HenMan can thus appreciate the relatively unimportant place PE held in the schedule … no one in their right mind wants to play golf in a School of Music! (PE was only required at one of the universities I attended)
In later years I sought graduate degrees in theology and business simply to satisfy my curiosity. I also spent 6 semesters at a Community College taking every chemistry class they offered and therein developed a real love and admiration for the Community College. There is some absolutely stellar education offered at Community Colleges and I recommend them highly … both to students and to employers looking to hire graduates.
Sororities and Fraternities were far too silly for serious consideration … both on my part and the part of my children during their university years. Honor Societies, on the other hand, are taken seriously in my family.
SWM,
Is that an offer?
Bryon,
I usually started out at the Frat House and then ended up somewhere else for the remainder of the evening. I had a different agenda than the Frat Boys. Well we may have had the same agenda…I was rarely talk…One of the benefits of a frat house…the enormous bank of tests…the second benefit well…free booze….and women….what more could a young man ask for?
AY:
Gamma Delta Iota, good fraternity.
Ay It is not dull like Dallas. You should move back there. If I were single I would move. I have two rented places there. Trying to get out of one of them.
Its amazing what you can find walking down that street about 11pm…sometimes a date….just for the night….not that I’d know anything about that….
AY I know west campus now. I have spent enough time at the university in the last month. My daughter told me it is to be avoided by graduate students.
SWM,
I too was in a Sorority…a couple of em to be exact…..way on yonder on the west side of the drag…..
SWM,
I too ascribed to those sacred…..I was a GDI….I went to many a Frat partys’ and well….they drank and smoked weed….well, it was like a homecoming so to speak….They usually had sorority girls come over and I stayed for the festivities….Then one of the Sisters thought I was nice and well….the rest…is history as we say…..I am now grinning ear to ear……
I ask myself, today, would I do the same thing……HELL Yeah….
AY One of my sisters was in a sorority and her daughter is in one also. I got a pair of baggy jeans at the salvation army and a poncho and rebelled.
Ay I was a hippy and was anti-sorority and anti-frat. Brought my kids up the same way. Daughter is trying to avoid former frat guys in law school.