Weird Courses Offered In Boston Schools

BOSTON, (UPI) — Boston-area colleges are offering an array of quirky classes this semester, including a class on filmmaker Quentin Tarantino and the HBO series “The Wire.”

The Boston Globe compiled a list of 17 unusual courses available at Boston-area colleges this spring.

Harvard University made the list five times for classes including “Race, Racism and Quentin Tarantino,” in which graduate students study “the difference between racist writing and writing racism,” the course’s syllabus states, adding, “There is no required reading,” as well as two classes focusing on the classic HBO series “The Wire.”

“The Wire: Race and Justice” and “HBO’s The Wire and its Contribution to Understanding Inequality” offer analysis of the social science and legal procedures within the show.

At MIT, students were offered a class called “How to Stage a Revolution.” The course teaches students how various populations managed to overthrow a ruler or establish a new government — with or without violence.

Boston College students had the option of taking the class “Apocalyptic Literature,” in which they would have studied manuscripts and predictions on how the world will end, in the biblical tradition.

“Social Media at Emerson” is a class offered a social media professor at Emerson College. The professor asks students each semester to convince a celebrity to meet with the class. Previous classes have met with Chad Ochocinco and Rob Gronkowski, Emerson Professor David Gerzof Richard said. This semester, his students are trying to persuade comedian and Newton native Louis C.K. to visit.

Emerson students were also able to register for the class “Puppetry,” which ends with the construction of puppets for in-class presentations.