YAF Releases Annual List of America's Most Bizarre, PC College Courses
by Jim Brown
January 9, 2006
(AgapePress) - - The Young America's Foundation (YAF) has unveiled its annual list of the country's most bizarre and politically correct college courses. This "Dirty Dozen" list includes such items as the John Hopkins University course called "Sex, Drugs and Rock 'n' Roll in Ancient Egypt," in which students view slideshows depicting ancient Egyptian women "fixing their hair," "having intercourse," and "vomiting on each other." Foundation spokesman Jason Mattera says he wonders how U.S. institutions of higher learning can justify offering such courses while college tuition rates are at an average of more than $21,000 a year. "Our students are studying issues in prostitution, teeth-whitening, and Beavis and Butthead," he laments.
"For instance," Mattera says, "at Princeton University -- one of the most prestigious universities in the country -- students examine in one course the culture production of early modern women. They examine prostitutes, cross-dressing, and same-sex eroticism during the Renaissance period." That course was ranked number one on the Foundation's latest list of the most bizarre and PC courses on college and university campuses.
Also, Occidental College made its first appearance ever on the "Dirty Dozen" list this time around with both the second and seventh most bizarre course offerings in 2005, the YAF spokesman points out. The number two course in the rankings, he notes, was a core curriculum class called "The Unbearable Whiteness of Barbie: Race and Popular Culture in the United States," which explores "ways that scientific racism has been put to the use of the making of Barbie."
According to the creators of that course, Mattera explains, "Matel was racist when they unveiled Barbie." And "as if that wasn't enough," he adds, "they examine the film The Matrix as a Marxist critique of capitalism."
Occidental offers another course, aptly, in "Stupidity," Mattera says. Among other things, he notes, "Stupidity" -- which touts itself as a critical psychology class following the work of Friedrich Nietzsche and other philosophers -- compares the American presidency to "Beavis and Butthead," an animated TV show featuring two moronic and puerile cartoon characters.
Jim Brown, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
