WEBVTT - What are the Strangest College Classes We Desperately Want to Take? 0:00:00.320 --> 0:00:02.480 Guess what will? What's that? Man? Do you know that 0:00:02.560 --> 0:00:06.320 Read College in Oregon actually offers an underwater basket weaving course? 0:00:06.519 --> 0:00:09.520 Are you serious? I mean Read is known for being 0:00:09.560 --> 0:00:12.080 a strange and wonderful place. It's actually one of those 0:00:12.080 --> 0:00:14.400 campuses I've always wanted to visit, but I can't say 0:00:14.400 --> 0:00:16.680 i'd heard about this course. Yeah, so, I know underwater 0:00:16.680 --> 0:00:18.959 basket weaving has been a punchline for so long, but 0:00:19.280 --> 0:00:21.720 it's actually todd each year during a festival at Read 0:00:21.920 --> 0:00:24.560 and does account for credit. I mean, it's more for fun, 0:00:24.640 --> 0:00:26.640 but I love that you can actually learn the skill. 0:00:27.040 --> 0:00:29.720 And actually I read this note from a student defending it, 0:00:29.760 --> 0:00:32.320 where he was saying basically that in this a d 0:00:32.520 --> 0:00:34.480 h D world where we look at our phones every 0:00:34.520 --> 0:00:37.199 three seconds, and you know, we need to constantly be 0:00:37.240 --> 0:00:40.640 stimulated by technology and being forced to concentrate on basket 0:00:40.720 --> 0:00:43.320 weaving in a pool with your face stuffed into a snorkel, 0:00:43.680 --> 0:00:46.400 that that was actually good for both his patients and concentration, 0:00:46.760 --> 0:00:49.320 and it also reduced his anxiety. I kind of like 0:00:49.440 --> 0:00:52.159 this defense, and I mean, I think that's kind of 0:00:52.200 --> 0:00:54.840 the point, right, Like, when you start looking around, there's 0:00:54.880 --> 0:00:57.560 so many of these quirky classes being taught around the country, 0:00:57.720 --> 0:00:59.760 and many of them are way more valuable than you 0:01:00.000 --> 0:01:02.319 inc So I thought today would be a great time 0:01:02.360 --> 0:01:04.559 to spotlight some of the weirdest classes we could find. 0:01:04.760 --> 0:01:25.720 What do you say? We dive in? Heay their podcast listeners, 0:01:25.760 --> 0:01:28.080 Welcome to Part Time Genius and Will Pearson And as 0:01:28.080 --> 0:01:30.039 always I'm joined by my good friend man guest I've 0:01:30.040 --> 0:01:32.399 taken up and we're so happy to welcome back our 0:01:32.440 --> 0:01:35.000 producer Tristan. He's a super important part of this show 0:01:35.040 --> 0:01:36.880 and he's been out for a few days, but we're 0:01:36.959 --> 0:01:39.720 very glad he's back. Well, speaking of back, it is 0:01:39.760 --> 0:01:42.440 back to school time, and to be honest, we're a 0:01:42.480 --> 0:01:45.080 little bit jealous. I mean, there's all these weird college 0:01:45.080 --> 0:01:47.960 classes out there, and we wish we could take them all. 0:01:48.000 --> 0:01:50.320 I mean, maybe not all of them, but definitely way 0:01:50.360 --> 0:01:52.840 more than we'd ever be able to. But that doesn't 0:01:52.840 --> 0:01:54.640 mean we can't talk about them. So that's what we're 0:01:54.680 --> 0:01:56.920 gonna do today. We'll also talk to a couple of 0:01:57.000 --> 0:02:00.200 daring professors who spearheaded some pretty unique courses of their own. 0:02:00.480 --> 0:02:02.560 So who's on the line today? Mego, yeah, So we've 0:02:02.560 --> 0:02:05.280 got Kenneth Goldsmith, the poet and professor at the University 0:02:05.320 --> 0:02:09.040 of Pennsylvania. Kenneth actually teaches two unusual classes. One's called 0:02:09.120 --> 0:02:12.360 Uncreative Writing and the others titled Wasting time on the Internet. 0:02:12.639 --> 0:02:14.880 And we'll have some wonderful quizzes too. All right, Well, 0:02:14.880 --> 0:02:17.560 before we dive in, we want to hear from you listeners. 0:02:17.639 --> 0:02:20.320 Let us know the weirdest college class you ever took, 0:02:20.680 --> 0:02:22.320 or the one offered at your school that you always 0:02:22.360 --> 0:02:24.280 wish you'd taken but maybe didn't get a chance to. 0:02:24.800 --> 0:02:26.960 So send that into part time genius at how stuff 0:02:26.960 --> 0:02:29.359 works dot com or hit us up on Facebook or Twitter, 0:02:29.880 --> 0:02:32.040 or you can call us on our fancy new fact 0:02:32.120 --> 0:02:35.320 hotline one eight four four pt genius. So we look 0:02:35.360 --> 0:02:37.240 forward to hearing from you, and of course we'll be 0:02:37.240 --> 0:02:39.639 sending some swag to the top three entries, so we're 0:02:39.639 --> 0:02:41.760 really looking forward to that. All right, great, alright, So 0:02:41.800 --> 0:02:44.320 fair warning to any listeners who haven't perused the college 0:02:44.320 --> 0:02:47.000 course catalog in a while. You need to prepare to 0:02:47.040 --> 0:02:49.600 be jealous. I mean, these catalogs have expanded in some 0:02:49.760 --> 0:02:52.720 wild directions over the past decade or so, and the 0:02:52.800 --> 0:02:56.440 result is this mortgage board of strange and quirky classes 0:02:56.560 --> 0:02:58.239 that you know, they kind of bring new meaning to 0:02:58.280 --> 0:03:01.120 the term liberal education. But I remember like some house 0:03:01.120 --> 0:03:03.080 courses that people used to teach even back when we 0:03:03.080 --> 0:03:05.680 were in college, Like during spring break, you could take 0:03:05.919 --> 0:03:09.799 this course called just Enough Guitar to Impress someone and 0:03:09.800 --> 0:03:11.200 and by the end of the class you learned to 0:03:11.200 --> 0:03:13.920 play something that sounds impressive but actually isn't that hard, 0:03:14.000 --> 0:03:17.600 like Tangerine LEDs up. But I I agree with you, 0:03:17.639 --> 0:03:20.480 these courses tend to stray pretty far from the core curriculum, 0:03:20.520 --> 0:03:23.440 but that definitely doesn't mean that they're all together silly 0:03:23.560 --> 0:03:25.919 or or that their merit lists, although trying to sell 0:03:25.960 --> 0:03:28.720 your parents on the worth of them might be another story, right, 0:03:29.320 --> 0:03:30.920 you know, Because we want to cover as many of 0:03:30.919 --> 0:03:33.200 these weird courses as we could. Mango and I actually 0:03:33.240 --> 0:03:36.040 split up our research for this episode, so we found 0:03:36.040 --> 0:03:39.040 the most interesting surprising courses we could across, you know, 0:03:39.040 --> 0:03:41.880 a few few different broad categories. So we'll share our 0:03:41.880 --> 0:03:43.960 findings and see if we can build our own ideal 0:03:44.040 --> 0:03:47.000 course load for the fall semester. So, so where do 0:03:47.040 --> 0:03:48.920 you want to start? Mango? So I want to skip 0:03:48.960 --> 0:03:51.920 straight to the mouth watering food classes because they're the 0:03:51.960 --> 0:03:53.840 most fun. And the first one we're gonna start with 0:03:54.000 --> 0:03:57.800 is from Alfred University. It's called maple Syrup, the real Thing, 0:03:58.080 --> 0:04:01.640 the real like that day they're throwing there And wait, 0:04:01.720 --> 0:04:04.440 isn't that the coke slogan? Though? Yeah, but this stuff 0:04:04.560 --> 0:04:08.600 is genuine thing. And the fact is that some senators 0:04:08.600 --> 0:04:11.240 from Vermont and Main have actually introduced legislation that would 0:04:11.240 --> 0:04:13.680 make it a felony offense to sell fake maple syrup. 0:04:14.120 --> 0:04:16.279 So the stakes are actually pretty high. But the class 0:04:16.320 --> 0:04:19.360 sounds fascinating. It covers the history of maple syrup production 0:04:19.600 --> 0:04:21.919 and that spans from traditional methods to some of the 0:04:21.920 --> 0:04:24.640 more cutting edge harvesting methods that are used today. And 0:04:24.880 --> 0:04:27.240 students also get to take field trips to restaurants and 0:04:27.360 --> 0:04:30.000 local syrup producers, and they even get to go to 0:04:30.040 --> 0:04:33.279 a maple syrup festival. So but but the best part 0:04:33.279 --> 0:04:34.640 of the best part of all of this is that 0:04:34.720 --> 0:04:37.640 every student gets to create and eat their own maple syrup. 0:04:37.680 --> 0:04:39.320 I mean, it does sound like a lot of fun. 0:04:40.279 --> 0:04:42.080 And you know, I'm a total sucker for a good 0:04:42.120 --> 0:04:45.600 course description. Like in college, I almost took organic chemistry 0:04:45.680 --> 0:04:48.120 just because the class promised that um that you get 0:04:48.120 --> 0:04:50.560 to make something that's the scent of pairs, like you 0:04:50.640 --> 0:04:52.960 get to manufacture that in the lab. And and I'm 0:04:53.160 --> 0:04:55.520 terrible at chemistry, but I like pairs. I love how 0:04:55.560 --> 0:04:58.279 you felt for that with organic chemistry, which is maybe 0:04:58.320 --> 0:05:00.719 like the hardest class or the we eat out class 0:05:00.720 --> 0:05:03.839 in college. But anyway, what did you learn about maple syrup? So? 0:05:04.040 --> 0:05:06.120 You know, I couldn't resist looking up some more facts 0:05:06.120 --> 0:05:08.360 about maple syrup. So here are a few facts from 0:05:08.360 --> 0:05:11.640 my new favorite website, cottage Life. Yeah you want to 0:05:11.680 --> 0:05:13.960 shut up about this one, I know. The first one 0:05:14.000 --> 0:05:16.960 is that of the world's maple syrup actually comes from Canada. 0:05:17.160 --> 0:05:20.159 So that surprises me. I mean, I feel like, you know, 0:05:20.160 --> 0:05:22.560 you always hear about Vermont's maple syrup that I wouldn't 0:05:22.600 --> 0:05:24.880 have guessed that that larger percentage came from I feel 0:05:24.880 --> 0:05:27.839 like Vermont is always bragging about it, but Canadas, so 0:05:28.080 --> 0:05:30.800 they're king. Yeah, I guess so and and and it 0:05:30.800 --> 0:05:33.279 takes forty years for a tree to actually become ready 0:05:33.279 --> 0:05:35.640 to tap. And then once it's ready, it takes about 0:05:35.680 --> 0:05:38.440 forty liters of sap just to make one leader of syrup, 0:05:38.480 --> 0:05:40.560 which is crazy. That is crazy. So I mean that's 0:05:40.600 --> 0:05:42.960 a pretty serious long term investment to be able to 0:05:43.000 --> 0:05:45.440 get anything. So you said, forty years before they can 0:05:45.520 --> 0:05:47.480 get any syrup from this, which is which is why 0:05:47.560 --> 0:05:49.240 class is a good idea, right Can you imagine just 0:05:49.320 --> 0:05:52.039 diving into the business without knowing about it. But back 0:05:52.080 --> 0:05:54.039 to the college classes. There are actually a ton of 0:05:54.080 --> 0:05:56.240 classes out there that deal with the history of production 0:05:56.320 --> 0:06:00.400 and of specific foods and drinks, and so for example, St. 0:06:00.440 --> 0:06:03.120 Mary's College of California offers a course on the science 0:06:03.160 --> 0:06:06.680 behind craft beer and brewing it. And Purdue University in 0:06:06.680 --> 0:06:10.040 Indiana has this wine appreciation class that helps students develop 0:06:10.080 --> 0:06:12.480 their palates. All right, wait, so let me make this clear. 0:06:12.520 --> 0:06:15.479 So California has the beer class and the Midwest has 0:06:15.520 --> 0:06:18.760 the wine appreciation class. I know, it almost seems backwards, right, 0:06:18.839 --> 0:06:21.240 but in fact, there are a lot of California schools 0:06:21.240 --> 0:06:23.719 that offer courses on the business of wine making. But 0:06:23.800 --> 0:06:26.960 produced class is purely about appreciating the wine. But for 0:06:27.160 --> 0:06:29.520 all the listeners out there, like, it's only open to 0:06:29.560 --> 0:06:31.679 students who are twenty one or older. So for anyone 0:06:31.680 --> 0:06:33.200 who's going to college there, they've got to pay their 0:06:33.240 --> 0:06:35.600 dues before getting the indulge into weekly wines and things. 0:06:35.680 --> 0:06:38.040 Yeah that makes sense, alright, So the maple syrup classes 0:06:38.080 --> 0:06:40.119 a little lot, and the beer and wine classes would 0:06:40.120 --> 0:06:42.120 definitely make your parents take a second look at your 0:06:42.120 --> 0:06:44.599 course load. But what would you say as the food 0:06:44.640 --> 0:06:48.200 class that you found the most surprising? So Penn State's 0:06:48.240 --> 0:06:50.920 College of Agricultural Studies has a course that's all about 0:06:50.960 --> 0:06:53.320 ice cream making. Oh wow, all right, well, what's the 0:06:53.320 --> 0:06:55.760 scoop on that? So the course is actually called I said, 0:06:55.760 --> 0:06:59.599 what's the scoop? Just making sure? The course is actually 0:06:59.600 --> 0:07:02.200 called the ice Cream Short Course. And it's this seven 0:07:02.279 --> 0:07:04.800 day long class that's open to industry professionals as well 0:07:04.800 --> 0:07:07.640 as students. Basically, people come from all over the world 0:07:07.640 --> 0:07:09.440 to take part in a bunch of workshops that teach 0:07:09.520 --> 0:07:11.760 them about the different aspects of ice cream and you 0:07:11.800 --> 0:07:14.400 know the technology used to make it. But the really 0:07:14.440 --> 0:07:16.560 crazy thing is just how long the class has been 0:07:16.600 --> 0:07:19.320 going on for. Hence State has been offering it every 0:07:19.400 --> 0:07:23.840 January for the last six years. Oh wow, seriously, Yeah, 0:07:23.880 --> 0:07:26.600 it's crazy. So, in fact, it's very likely the first 0:07:26.640 --> 0:07:29.600 continuing ed course ever offered in the US. It first 0:07:29.600 --> 0:07:32.760 started back in two when the School of Agricultural held 0:07:32.800 --> 0:07:36.440 this uh dairy manufacturing class in the winter and this 0:07:36.480 --> 0:07:39.360 is courting the school. This is when farm work is 0:07:39.440 --> 0:07:43.600 least pressing and the boys can be spared. Is that 0:07:43.680 --> 0:07:45.920 really what it says, the boys can be spared? That 0:07:46.000 --> 0:07:47.679 kind of sounds like an ad for like a group 0:07:47.720 --> 0:07:51.400 that likes to go without underwear. They commando grew anyway, 0:07:51.480 --> 0:07:54.840 So sorry. Ice cream making was was always part of 0:07:54.840 --> 0:07:58.880 the curriculum, but by the Frozen treat became so popular 0:07:58.920 --> 0:08:02.200 in the US that the course exclusively focused on ice cream. 0:08:02.400 --> 0:08:04.640 And so so you've got to figure in this time, 0:08:04.960 --> 0:08:07.760 reps from every major ice cream place and started taking 0:08:07.760 --> 0:08:11.560 the course. So you've got good humor. Baskin Robbins, Ample Hills, 0:08:11.640 --> 0:08:14.520 Bluebell Hog and does. It's like a finishing course for 0:08:14.680 --> 0:08:17.040 every ice cream maker in the country, even Ben and 0:08:17.120 --> 0:08:19.600 Jerry's they learned their craft there. That's quite a crew 0:08:19.680 --> 0:08:21.600 that's been there. Well, did you find any other food 0:08:21.600 --> 0:08:23.280 classes that were kind of like that, you know, a 0:08:23.360 --> 0:08:26.239 bit more prestigious, but it still a little bit weird. Yeah, definitely. 0:08:26.280 --> 0:08:27.920 But before we get to any of that, I've got 0:08:27.960 --> 0:08:30.400 to share at least one more ice cream factor. So 0:08:30.560 --> 0:08:33.560 did you know in nineteen seven, Fidel Castro was so 0:08:33.640 --> 0:08:36.000 threatened by Baskin Robbins and the fact that America had 0:08:36.000 --> 0:08:38.520 thirty one flavors of ice cream that he bragged that 0:08:38.640 --> 0:08:42.000 Cuba was already producing twenty six flavors and they'd soon 0:08:42.040 --> 0:08:45.599 be producing for I love the ramp up that he 0:08:45.640 --> 0:08:47.680 didn't just say they had more, that they really were 0:08:47.720 --> 0:08:49.880 working towards this goal. I know, if I understand why, 0:08:49.960 --> 0:08:53.080 like eleven more flavors makes Cuba like a superior society 0:08:53.120 --> 0:08:56.280 is pretty intimidating. Hey, he said they were gonna put 0:08:56.280 --> 0:08:59.800 America to shame. But back to your question, and this 0:09:00.000 --> 0:09:02.760 one is maybe my favorite class of this whole food category. 0:09:02.960 --> 0:09:06.559 It's called gastro Diplomacy and it's offered at American University 0:09:06.559 --> 0:09:09.760 in Washington, d C. It's this really neat course based 0:09:09.760 --> 0:09:11.680 around the idea that food can be used to help 0:09:11.679 --> 0:09:15.559 increase cultural understanding between countries. Oh wow, well that's pretty interesting. 0:09:15.600 --> 0:09:17.760 I mean, especially when you consider that for a lot 0:09:17.800 --> 0:09:20.720 of Americans, you know that the most personal interaction they'll 0:09:20.720 --> 0:09:23.640 ever have with some foreign cultures really is through the 0:09:23.720 --> 0:09:26.200 cuisine they might try at their own home. Yeah, so, 0:09:26.400 --> 0:09:29.120 Public Diplomacy Magazine which I mean, we were in the 0:09:29.160 --> 0:09:31.400 magazine business with Metal Plus for fifteen years and I've 0:09:31.480 --> 0:09:34.240 never heard of it, but now I'm totally hooked. They 0:09:34.320 --> 0:09:36.360 did a study a few years back where they surveyed 0:09:36.400 --> 0:09:39.800 a hundred forty people about eating other cultures cuisine, and 0:09:39.880 --> 0:09:42.400 more than half the respondents said that eating a foreign 0:09:42.440 --> 0:09:45.280 country's food lead them to think more positively about that country. 0:09:45.760 --> 0:09:47.720 So you know, it's true. The way to people's hearts, 0:09:47.720 --> 0:09:49.960 it really is through their stomach. Well, I like that idea. 0:09:50.000 --> 0:09:53.560 And how exactly though, does this translate into a college class. Yeah, 0:09:53.559 --> 0:09:55.760 I was curious about that too. But the students study 0:09:55.800 --> 0:09:58.240 wars and conflicts, so they might look at the Vietnam War, 0:09:58.440 --> 0:10:02.000 or Ethiopia Civil war are or the Soviet War in Afghanistan, 0:10:02.160 --> 0:10:04.760 And then they actually take field trips to local ethnic restaurants, 0:10:05.080 --> 0:10:07.240 you know, so they can actually taste traditional meals from 0:10:07.240 --> 0:10:10.040 these cultures and even get some face time with immigrants 0:10:10.040 --> 0:10:13.079 who prepare them. It's pretty awesome. And the instructor and 0:10:13.200 --> 0:10:16.840 Mendelssohn Foreman said, I've got this quote. The ideas for 0:10:16.960 --> 0:10:19.200 students to hear from the cooks, from the owners of 0:10:19.240 --> 0:10:21.679 these places about how they see their cuisine as a 0:10:21.720 --> 0:10:24.520 communication tool in their own communities. I think this one 0:10:24.600 --> 0:10:26.880 might be my favorite too. That that's that's pretty cool, 0:10:27.000 --> 0:10:29.840 all right, Well, do you have any others in that category? No, 0:10:29.960 --> 0:10:32.280 I think that covers it. Well, let's switch gears now 0:10:32.320 --> 0:10:34.600 from a course that challenges students to look outward at 0:10:34.600 --> 0:10:36.679 the people they share the world with, too, one that 0:10:36.760 --> 0:10:40.200 does the exact opposite. So I'm guessing you're talking about 0:10:40.200 --> 0:10:42.199 that selfie class you were telling me about earlier. Is 0:10:42.240 --> 0:10:44.480 indeed that one? All right? So this course falls into 0:10:44.520 --> 0:10:46.560 one of the broad categories I looked into, and that 0:10:46.640 --> 0:10:49.240 these were classes that examine the use of social media 0:10:49.360 --> 0:10:53.080 and digital technologies. And the first one is commonly referred 0:10:53.120 --> 0:10:56.320 to as the selfie class, but it's more formally known 0:10:56.440 --> 0:11:00.760 as Writing and Critical Reasoning Identity and diversity, and it's 0:11:00.760 --> 0:11:03.520 you know, it's part social studies, part writing workshop, and 0:11:03.920 --> 0:11:07.040 one of the courses assignments challenges students to take five 0:11:07.120 --> 0:11:10.280 selfies of themselves and then write an essay on how 0:11:10.320 --> 0:11:14.000 the selfies produced or obscured a sense of their identities. 0:11:14.240 --> 0:11:16.600 You know, it's a pretty thoughtful course actually, Like the 0:11:16.640 --> 0:11:19.880 students are encouraged to consider every aspect of their pictures, 0:11:20.120 --> 0:11:23.680 whether it's how they're posing their clothing, their facial expression, 0:11:24.120 --> 0:11:27.800 the lighting and background, even the gaze and the camera angle, 0:11:27.880 --> 0:11:30.200 and so actually here a few questions. The students were 0:11:30.200 --> 0:11:33.480 asked to think about what in your selfies is accurate? 0:11:34.040 --> 0:11:37.640 What is obscured or ambiguous? Does the image portray one 0:11:37.679 --> 0:11:41.239 identity trait more than others? How is the viewer addressed 0:11:41.280 --> 0:11:44.600 in the image? What is the apparent context of this image? 0:11:44.600 --> 0:11:47.200 I mean, it's it's so philosophical. Can you imagine if 0:11:47.200 --> 0:11:50.120 Instagram or Snapchat made this the assignment that before you 0:11:50.240 --> 0:11:52.760 hit the published button, that everyone has to write an 0:11:52.840 --> 0:11:55.280 essay exactly. I love it and and I also love 0:11:55.320 --> 0:11:57.240 things that don't sound that smart on the service and 0:11:57.280 --> 0:12:00.760 then end up being so much deeper, and taking selfies 0:12:00.720 --> 0:12:04.760 is like perfect. It's like the simple act of vanity. 0:12:04.880 --> 0:12:06.880 But but it's fun to think about what it actually 0:12:06.880 --> 0:12:09.680 says about ourselves, right, right, And it's a crazy phenomenon. 0:12:09.720 --> 0:12:12.800 So Google reports that more than twenty four billion selfies 0:12:12.840 --> 0:12:15.600 were uploaded in two thousand and fifteen, and that number 0:12:15.640 --> 0:12:18.520 only seems to be growing every single year. So did 0:12:18.520 --> 0:12:20.440 you come across any other courses that do this, you know, 0:12:20.559 --> 0:12:23.120 look at some of our questionable digital habits. Well, there's 0:12:23.120 --> 0:12:25.640 an interesting course at a pits or college called Learning 0:12:25.679 --> 0:12:28.679 from YouTube, and it was designed to evaluate what YouTube 0:12:28.679 --> 0:12:30.680 can teach us, you know, given that so many of 0:12:30.720 --> 0:12:33.560 its videos or someone educational and it's in their nature 0:12:33.720 --> 0:12:37.120 and you know, how to videos or video essays about 0:12:37.160 --> 0:12:40.520 the philosophy of popular movies or TV shows. And one 0:12:40.559 --> 0:12:42.800 of the weirdest things about it, though, is that all 0:12:42.840 --> 0:12:45.560 of the coursework was not only about YouTube, it was 0:12:45.640 --> 0:12:49.080 actually on YouTube. So the classes were all recorded and 0:12:49.160 --> 0:12:52.040 posted on the site, and all the students essays were 0:12:52.040 --> 0:12:54.400 done in the form of videos and the comments on 0:12:54.440 --> 0:12:57.520 those videos. That sounds super fun. Like when I was 0:12:57.520 --> 0:12:59.160 in school, I always tried to do the project to 0:12:59.160 --> 0:13:02.199 get out of doing the right But is there an 0:13:02.240 --> 0:13:05.880 advantage to that style of learning? Well maybe. Unsurprisingly, students 0:13:05.880 --> 0:13:08.520 determine that YouTube isn't all that great for learning, or 0:13:08.520 --> 0:13:10.760 at least not in the big classroom way that we're 0:13:10.840 --> 0:13:13.000 used to. It was. It was daunting for them to 0:13:13.040 --> 0:13:16.400 have all their classes and homework on public display where 0:13:16.440 --> 0:13:19.840 commoners and trolls could ridicule them, and they basically concluded 0:13:19.880 --> 0:13:22.520 that YouTube can be a decent educational tool on an 0:13:22.520 --> 0:13:25.960 individual basis, but it's much less useful in a communal 0:13:25.960 --> 0:13:28.960 setting and probably works best just as a means of entertainment. 0:13:29.120 --> 0:13:31.520 That's fascinating. So I actually remember visiting one of my 0:13:31.520 --> 0:13:34.200 best friends who I thought was pretty handy, but then 0:13:34.400 --> 0:13:36.600 he suddenly put a whole new roof on his house 0:13:36.600 --> 0:13:39.560 by himself, and I asked her, like, how did you 0:13:39.640 --> 0:13:40.800 do that? How do you know what to do? And 0:13:41.000 --> 0:13:44.000 he said YouTube, he learned how to. I hope the 0:13:44.080 --> 0:13:47.240 roof is still work. It was follow up on that, 0:13:48.360 --> 0:13:50.600 but it's amazing all the information that's out there and 0:13:50.640 --> 0:13:53.800 like all this step by step instruction, but also you know, 0:13:53.880 --> 0:13:56.760 to know where YouTube's failings are really interesting to think 0:13:56.760 --> 0:13:58.920 about it too. Did you find a new media classes 0:13:58.960 --> 0:14:02.520 that seemed, I don't know, a little more practical. Well, yeah, 0:14:02.640 --> 0:14:06.079 I mean there's stuff like there's one called smartphone photography 0:14:06.200 --> 0:14:08.360 at Portland Community College, and I'm sure there are other 0:14:08.400 --> 0:14:11.160 colleges that that teach this as well, and you know, 0:14:11.200 --> 0:14:14.400 basically teaches about the composition and lighting for the cameras 0:14:14.400 --> 0:14:16.880 that we're all carrying around in our pockets. And and 0:14:16.920 --> 0:14:19.120 I suppose that's useful at least the kind of skill. 0:14:19.240 --> 0:14:21.240 And for me, you know, the most compelling course in 0:14:21.280 --> 0:14:25.840 this category was definitely Kenneth Goldsmith's Wasting Time on the Internet. 0:14:26.440 --> 0:14:28.040 And we actually have him here to talk with us today. 0:14:28.080 --> 0:14:29.160 What do you say we get him on the line. 0:14:29.280 --> 0:14:33.760 I love No, let's do it. Our guest today is 0:14:33.800 --> 0:14:36.200 a poet and in fact the first poet Laureate of 0:14:36.240 --> 0:14:39.080 the Museum of Modern Art. He's an author of several books, 0:14:39.080 --> 0:14:42.040 but the one we're focused on today is called Wasting 0:14:42.120 --> 0:14:44.320 Time on the Internet, and it's based on a course 0:14:44.320 --> 0:14:47.680 he's taught at the University of Pennsylvania. Kenneth Goldsmith, Welcome 0:14:47.720 --> 0:14:50.760 to part time genius. I'm glad to be here. So, Kenneth, 0:14:50.760 --> 0:14:53.600 I was reading the first part of your of your 0:14:53.640 --> 0:14:55.960 book Wasting Time on the Internet, and I saw that 0:14:56.480 --> 0:14:59.080 you were talking about this tweet that you you put 0:14:59.120 --> 0:15:01.440 out in the Fall of tooth Ius and fourteen were 0:15:01.440 --> 0:15:03.880 you announced this new course and the tweet said, my 0:15:03.960 --> 0:15:06.600 class called Wasting Time on the Internet will be offered 0:15:06.640 --> 0:15:09.880 at pen next semester. And apparently this tweet just kind 0:15:09.880 --> 0:15:12.520 of blew up. Tell us what happened after you sent 0:15:12.560 --> 0:15:15.800 this tweet out well, you know, I mostly got a 0:15:15.880 --> 0:15:19.200 return tweet saying, you know, I've got a PhD in that. 0:15:20.320 --> 0:15:23.760 You know, it kind of went slightly viral, and you 0:15:23.760 --> 0:15:26.320 know the way things go on Twitter. I got a 0:15:26.360 --> 0:15:32.040 request from uh, the Washington Post for an interview, which 0:15:32.040 --> 0:15:35.760 I gave UH and it was published shortly thereafter, and 0:15:35.800 --> 0:15:38.640 then I think maybe another one for Vice. And I 0:15:38.640 --> 0:15:40.720 didn't give too many other interviews about it. But what 0:15:40.800 --> 0:15:45.920 starts to happen is that these UH news sources get 0:15:45.960 --> 0:15:51.960 cannibalized by lesser fish and they go down the food chain. UH. 0:15:51.960 --> 0:15:54.400 And each time it's like a giant game of telephone. 0:15:54.440 --> 0:15:56.640 My facts get more and more twisted. As a matter 0:15:56.680 --> 0:15:59.200 of fact, a lot of people were simply cutting and 0:15:59.240 --> 0:16:02.320 pasting what had been written before slapping a new headline 0:16:02.320 --> 0:16:05.640 on it, changing the first sentence, and then posting it 0:16:05.720 --> 0:16:10.080 as their own original content. Finally, at the end of 0:16:10.120 --> 0:16:14.320 the chain of telephone, about a month later, evidently a 0:16:14.640 --> 0:16:20.640 professor named Kevin Goldberg at Penn State was giving away 0:16:20.720 --> 0:16:26.000 PhDs in wasting time on the Internet. That's pretty funny, 0:16:26.040 --> 0:16:27.680 So would you tell us a little bit about the 0:16:27.680 --> 0:16:29.640 class and what actually takes place in it? The promise 0:16:29.720 --> 0:16:32.760 the classes. This fIF team people get together in a 0:16:32.840 --> 0:16:36.080 room with all the technology that they can possibly muster, 0:16:37.080 --> 0:16:40.880 and we waste time together. And that's the only thing 0:16:41.440 --> 0:16:44.960 that I require from the students. There's no papers being written, 0:16:45.120 --> 0:16:48.240 there's no nothing other than to actually be together in 0:16:48.280 --> 0:16:51.560 this room, wasting time on the Internet together. And what 0:16:51.600 --> 0:16:54.520 do you discover from that? I discovered the contrary to 0:16:55.120 --> 0:17:00.840 the popular idea that technology separates us, in fact, when 0:17:00.880 --> 0:17:03.680 we put technology in the room with us as a group, 0:17:03.800 --> 0:17:10.800 technology tends to act as amplifiers of emotion and affect. Uh. 0:17:10.880 --> 0:17:16.800 It becomes a hyper emotional space driven by technology. So 0:17:16.840 --> 0:17:19.680 when we waste time on the Internet, we normally waste time, 0:17:20.280 --> 0:17:22.840 you know, at a Starbucks or library, and we're alone 0:17:22.960 --> 0:17:26.480 and we're feeling lonely. But once you begin to put 0:17:26.520 --> 0:17:29.520 those machines into a room with people who can actually 0:17:29.520 --> 0:17:32.439 talk to each other, some real magic happens. Now. I 0:17:32.440 --> 0:17:35.199 saw some of the assignments that you gave up made 0:17:35.240 --> 0:17:37.439 students a bit nervous at first. You know, one of 0:17:37.480 --> 0:17:41.240 them was you know that they could um basically take 0:17:41.280 --> 0:17:44.760 the laptop of another class member and look up anything 0:17:44.760 --> 0:17:47.800 that they wanted to on that person's computer. Any files, 0:17:47.880 --> 0:17:50.800 any documents, anything like that, and then they passed the 0:17:50.880 --> 0:17:54.280 laptop along to the next person and looked at another laptop. 0:17:54.320 --> 0:17:57.360 And whether it was that or another assignment, I think 0:17:57.359 --> 0:18:00.240 I saw was that the class together was us to 0:18:00.280 --> 0:18:03.000 start some sort of rumor and then spread that rumor. 0:18:03.119 --> 0:18:06.520 So with these sorts of assignments, which do sound really interesting, 0:18:06.600 --> 0:18:08.679 did did you ever run into any trouble that did 0:18:08.760 --> 0:18:12.480 ever get ugly? No, it never got really ugly, because basically, 0:18:12.480 --> 0:18:14.800 what I have on my computer is pretty much what 0:18:14.880 --> 0:18:18.000 you have on your computer. And it was kind of 0:18:18.000 --> 0:18:19.720 like we, you know, we think all of this data 0:18:19.800 --> 0:18:22.399 is so precious, but in fact it is precious to 0:18:22.520 --> 0:18:25.800 us um but in fact there's not much revelation. I 0:18:25.800 --> 0:18:28.719 remember when I tasked my computer around, no sort of 0:18:28.760 --> 0:18:31.640 what what came up. I made everybody leave the windows 0:18:31.640 --> 0:18:33.639 open that had that they had been open, so everybody 0:18:33.640 --> 0:18:35.840 could see exactly what you would looked at. And you know, 0:18:36.000 --> 0:18:38.800 my photos were open, and somebody went in for a 0:18:38.840 --> 0:18:41.199 bank statement, and you know, there were a couple of 0:18:41.240 --> 0:18:44.520 searches for porn, and maybe somebody cracked in the book 0:18:44.560 --> 0:18:46.800 of mine that was in progress. You know, first of all, 0:18:46.800 --> 0:18:49.440 there wasn't enough time to really dig down on it. 0:18:49.680 --> 0:18:52.119 And second of all, you weren't really allowed to alter, delete, 0:18:52.160 --> 0:18:54.760 or share anything on that. You could just simply look. Now, 0:18:54.800 --> 0:18:58.359 I've done this in in in groups of up to 0:18:58.440 --> 0:19:02.760 four people, were four hundred people put their laptops out, 0:19:02.880 --> 0:19:05.520 and all four hundred people, for twenty minutes could go 0:19:05.640 --> 0:19:08.840 around and see what was on everybody else's computer. I 0:19:08.840 --> 0:19:11.359 mean it's really intimate. I mean, it's really it's a 0:19:11.400 --> 0:19:16.359 way of breaking down the you know, the kind of 0:19:17.240 --> 0:19:21.320 social neurosis that does happen in a class. We all think, 0:19:21.359 --> 0:19:25.399 you know, everybody feels they're surprivate and so preserved. It 0:19:25.520 --> 0:19:28.000 was really a way of sharing, almost like meat space 0:19:28.080 --> 0:19:32.159 social media over sharing, which is really fascinating. Um, I'm curious, 0:19:32.240 --> 0:19:35.080 what's your hope for students takeaway from the class. Well, 0:19:35.119 --> 0:19:37.800