Swarthmoreans have to wait until next year to feast on "The Whole Enchilada: Debates in World History," but right now they can take "Engendering Culture" where they're supposed to learn how "culture is constructed and reconstructed to replicate gender roles," by studying "New York night life and John Wayne movies and the masculine West." It's unclear how this differs from spending a semester chilling in the Big Apple and eating cheetos in front of the tube.
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill offers a philosophy class on "sports and competition." This isn't a traditionally academic discipline, but it might be more rigorous than "Intro to Gay and Lesbian Literature." And why go to "Courtship" class, when you could go courting on Franklin Street and have real-life success? At American University you can major in American Studies and take a course called "Washington, D.C.: Life Inside a Monument." Or you could skip some of the lectures, take a "D.C. Ducks" tour, and use the extra free time for more enlightening activities.
One must skip class with prudence, of course, if graduation is the goal. But since academics these days are so interested in examining prejudices and asking "creative questions" that push the bounds of social norms, why follow some categorical imperative demanding class attendance, when skipping it now and then just might allow you to maintain your sanity?
Joseph Lindsley is an editorial assistant at THE WEEKLY STANDARD.
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