# Stupid Teacher Tricks **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 20, 2000, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-teacher-tricks/12923 "2000-01-20T00:59:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![APB9999](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e8cbc/32.png) [@APB9999](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/APB9999)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2000, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-teacher-tricks/12923/1 "2000-01-20T00:59:00Z")
Okay, all of you with access to the world’s course catalogs, what course is your school (or your favorite school) offering that is the biggest waste of time and effort you’ve ever heard of? I want ACTUAL courses being offered by colleges and universities. Underwater Basket Weaving, The Films Of Keanu Reeves, Marxist Interpretations Of The Iliad, what have you. Please include the department as well as the institution. ---
**Author:** ![aha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eada6e/32.png) [@aha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aha)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2000, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-teacher-tricks/12923/2 "2000-01-20T01:12:00Z")
Bowling…SOSU ( in oklahoma) atheletic dept. The grade is based on impovement during the semester…I started out bowling as good as as I could so I made little or no improvement therefore making a C- in the subject. ---
**Author:** ![APB9999](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e8cbc/32.png) [@APB9999](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/APB9999)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2000, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-teacher-tricks/12923/3 "2000-01-20T03:26:00Z")
Hey! I took bowling in HS as my after-school sport. I actually got to where I could regularly break 200. Not bad for no real training and a strategy essentially of “roll it up the middle, but just a little to the side”. ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2000, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-teacher-tricks/12923/4 "2000-01-20T05:15:00Z")
I apologize in advance for hijacking this thread (but it’s not going anywhere, anyhow). Aha, I grew up in Oklahoma… are you from there? Enright3 ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2000, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-teacher-tricks/12923/5 "2000-01-20T16:16:00Z")
“Eastern Philosophy and the Game of Go,” William & Mary philosophy department. I never took it, but I knew people who did, and yes, they spent the entire semester playing Go. “The Films of Ingmar Bergman and the Classical Tradition,” same school, classics department. Took this my first semester of college, and developed the bs-writing skills that have served me so well ever since. ---
**Author:** ![Surgoshan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Surgoshan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surgoshan)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2000, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-teacher-tricks/12923/6 "2000-01-20T21:56:00Z")
Can’t you just give the kid a good smack whenever he’s doing something bad? And reward him when he’s good? Treat him like a puppy. Except don’t put him in a kennel. ---
**Author:** ![Surgoshan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Surgoshan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surgoshan)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2000, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-teacher-tricks/12923/7 "2000-01-20T21:57:00Z")
I could have sworn I was posting somewhere else. Do I feel silly. Oh, and there’s one English class here at Cornell where all you do is watch and write on Kung-fu movies. No joke. ---
**Author:** ![Strainger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/strainger/32/244_2.png) [@Strainger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Strainger)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2000, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-teacher-tricks/12923/8 "2000-01-20T22:03:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by Surgoshan: > **Oh, and there’s one English class here at Cornell where all you do is watch and write on Kung-fu movies. No joke.** So is the final exam an oral report where your grade depends on how well you can mismatch your lip movements with your speech? ---
**Author:** ![sorrel554](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/91b2a8/32.png) [@sorrel554](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sorrel554)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2000, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-teacher-tricks/12923/9 "2000-01-20T23:51:00Z")
I’ll offer up a couple of examples…meant by the university, of course, to be serious classes. The titles might cause you to wonder though: “The Spring Flora,” “Sociology of the Paranormal,” and “World Drumming.” These are all, by the way, honors classes. ---
**Author:** ![sorrel554](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/91b2a8/32.png) [@sorrel554](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sorrel554)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2000, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-teacher-tricks/12923/10 "2000-01-20T23:52:00Z")
University of South Carolina. Sorry for omitting that.