Quirky course titles can deceive

Forget Chemistry, American Government and Accounting — the most memorable college classes are… Forget Chemistry, American Government and Accounting — the most memorable college classes are sometimes about magic, fairy tales and the Beatles.

Along with the usual college subjects, Pitt, like other colleges throughout the city, offers courses that appeal to students’ wider interests, expanding beyond the world of calculus and into the world of happily ever after.

Instructors and students insist that these courses can sometimes be harder than their names lead many believe, forcing people to rethink their definitions of “magic” and other generally light-hearted concepts.

Junior Michael Yake didn’t learn about the stereotypical form of magic when he enrolled in Magic, Medicine and Science, a history course, to fulfill a general education requirement his freshman year.

“It was focused on what they believed was magic back then. Not Merlin magic, but instead how-water-turned-into-ice magic,” Yake said.

He also said the class “sounded interesting because it involved magic, but it was a lot, a lot, a lot of reading and more work than I expected.”

Professor Eric Hatleback, the course’s instructor, admitted that there was a lot of work in the course but said that he constructs a system that allows students to decide for themselves what combination of papers, presentations, reading responses and quizzes they will complete.

“I don’t think the title deceives students into thinking the course is about magic, because we definitely cover historic material that could be said to deal with magic,” Hatleback said.

Other courses also address the momentous idea of magic. Among them is Russian Fairy Tales, routinely one of the most popular classes on campus. Often taken by students to fulfill the International/Foreign Culture — Regional and Non-Western Culture general education requirement, the class covers a variety of Russian and Western fairy tales along with provocative approaches to studying the stories.

The course has students watch the Disney movies “Cinderella” and “Snow White,” but also involves a psychological approach to the tales and analyzes the beliefs informing the magical world of the narratives, said professor Robert Metil, the course instructor.

This course includes cinematic, artistic and musical representations of the supernatural figures and scenes from the tales. It then compares the Russian fairy tales with Western fairy tale traditions of the Brothers Grimm, Perrault and Disney. The class typically has between 200 and 350 students.

Metil said part of the popularity might come from the buzz about favorite parts of the course among students such as “learning that some of the tales such as those concerning kissing frogs and even snotty goats were used to help young girls deal with puberty and sexuality.”

Some students avoid courses on magic and turn to the wide range of physical education classes that are offered.

Football Officiating, Water Aerobics, Party Dance and Intro to Rock Climbing are among the other nontraditional courses offered.

Kathryn Chovanes, a sophomore who is currently enrolled in Total Body Fusion, thinks that these types of physical education classes are beneficial.

“I think they give college students motivation to work out and get graded on the fact that they’re participating,” Chovanes said. “And they are legitimate classes that you can get credit for.”

Thomas Prigg, the instructor for Intro to Rock Climbing, said that he likes to keep a light class and joke around while teaching students the necessary skills for top roping.

Although there are no tests involved in the course, Prigg said that he drills students enough that he knows which students know what they are doing.

Carnegie Mellon also takes part in expanding students’ horizons beyond what many college students expect.

The Beatles — a course at CMU that focuses on the phenomenon of the 1960s musical sensation — involves studying the bands’ songs and analyzing the musical and lyrical content and structural elements of them.

The course tries to find out what exactly caused Beatlemania and studies the music’s social context, according to CMU’s course catalog.

If students are not feeling the music world, CMU offers Introduction to Hot Glass, where no glassblowing experience is required.

In this class, students learn safety, proper tool use, communication and a team approach to glassblowing, while also making clear glass cups and bowls in the process.

Full-time Pitt students — those enrolled in at least 12 credits — can cross-register for classes at CMU, as well as eight other colleges in the city, through cross-registration, if they get the permission of the department at the other college.