Quirky courses shake up the N.J. college experience

Parents Forum
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<p>"While freshman Tyese Beauharnais holds out a hoop, one of her classmates springs off a trampoline, gracefully dives through its center and flips onto a mat below.</p>

<p>Nearby, other classmates spin plates on sticks, practice elaborate magic tricks and master balancing poses. Meanwhile, their professor is busy teaching another student a complex tandem juggling act …</p>

<p>‘They think I’m crazy. But I get four credits for it,’ said Beauharnais, 18, of East Rutherford.</p>

<p>Yes, ‘Circus Arts’ is a real academic class at Bloomfield College, a private four-year school in Essex County …</p>

<p>There’s “‘South Park’ and Philosophy” at Monmouth University, “Gender, Sexuality, and Pop Music in the 1980s” at the College of New Jersey, “The Harry Potter Phenomenon” at Rowan University and “History of Hip Hop and Rap” at Ramapo College. Rutgers University offers “Wine Insights,” an introduction to wine-tasting class, and Fairleigh Dickinson University has “The Psychology of Fine Dining,” which includes a “food sampling” lab …"</p>

<p>Installment X of a continuing series.</p>

<p>[Turning</a> learning on its head: From ‘Circus Arts’ to ‘South Park,’ quirky courses shake up the N.J. college experience | NJ.com](<a href=“http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/12/turning_learning_on_its_head_f_1.html]Turning”>Turning learning on its head: From 'Circus Arts' to 'South Park,' quirky courses shake up the N.J. college experience - nj.com)</p>

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<p>Bloomfield College could be the worst 4 year college in NJ</p>

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<p>Can’t speak to these specific courses, but in many cases, the class gets a hot headline title (“Vampire Sex in Twilight”) and sucks students in with some mentions of popular culture, but actually uses the superficial topic as a vehicle to teach traditional theory in the field. Spoonful of sugar and all that.</p>

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<p>D1 took ‘Theater Appreciation’ this semester at Rutgers. She had to attend 8 shows, 2 in NYC, including ‘War Horse’. It was her favorite class this semester despite being in a lecture hall w 400+ other students.</p>

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<p>Agree with Stradmom, a sexy title tells you almost nothing about the content of a course. And I can’t believe parents are paying for their kids to get 4 credits for a juggling class. Then again, lots and lots of schools give credit for all kinds of stuff- including more everyday sports like bowling and tennis- I would not pay for either (unless said child was a phys. ed or kinesiology major).</p>

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<p>Every student at Bloomfield has to take one “Arts as Catalyst” course: some kind of art making or performing, as part of gen ed. “Circus Arts” is one possible choice for that.</p>

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<p>^ So it’s 4 credits out of how many for a degree? Seems ridiculous, especially when you look at their offerings, most of which look very specific applied degrees. Like a cross between a college and a trade school.</p>

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<p>Most schools under the top have similar profession-based majors in addition to liberal arts ones (USNWR category Comprehensive Colleges, for instance.) This requirement is 4 credits out of 128. The Gen Ed requirements are very comprehensive and definitely not similar to those of a trade school (2 semesters Fresh comp, three humanities, two sciences, two social sciences, math, econ, and several others.)</p>

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<p>Why not circus arts? Ranks right up there with dodgeball.</p>

<p>Mizzou has a literature class that studies only the Harry Potter series.</p>