Excerpt: "The University of Baltimore is making it OK to read Spider-Man and X-Men comic books in class, and even will give you college credit for it.
In what is believed to be a first, the school is offering a course next spring on the superhero world of Marvel Comics, a university spokesman said on Wednesday.
"Media Genres: Media Marvels" will examine Marvel Comics along with such Marvel Studios films as "Iron Man," "Thor," "The Avengers," "Guardians of the Galaxy" and the "Captain America" series.
The course professor, Arnold Blumberg, said the Marvel comics and movies offered not only entertainment but also insights into heroism, the responsibilities of power and the willingness to trade freedom for security"
Do you think this is a valid mechanism for teaching those themes or just an excuse to read/watch comics in class? What's YOUR ideal college course?
__________________
Lego, Cav (the Lego brand name was derived from the Danish expression "leg godt" - play well - and lego also translates in Latin as "I study" or "I put together"...really, one of the world's most perfect words!)
I think that is is very interesting. I also believe it would be a good class for a journalism major. If one loves to write, learning about heroism can be very useful. people love to read about heroes and saving the day!I think this class could be beneficial and fun.
This is a course a friend of mine is taking at UC Berkeley:
http://www.decal.org/courses/3340
Yep, A class dedicated to studying the ridiculously amazing and sometimes unfathomable life of Kanye West. This is my ideal college course, if I could major in Kanyeology I would.
Beyond this being the greatest thing I have ever read, I do believe this is a valid form of education for this field. What better way to learn than to have a class all on experiencing some of the finest specimens produced by that particular industry.
My ideal college course... that's tough. I would choose something along the lines of a burger critique and hiking 101. What a dream course.
This is awesome! I am a comic book fan myself, so the fact that the University of Baltimore is making it a class is amazing! I do think that this is a valid teaching tool. Because while comics may seem like another form of pointless entertainment, they really do hold some aspects of human life in them, and the characters find solutions to the problem like one would expect in the real world. For example, in a DC comic (I do recognize this is a Marvel course, but I only can think of a DC example) Roy Harper, Green Arrow's sidekick, gets addicted to drugs. During the time this comic was published, this was a real issue for the younger generation. Eventually he got over his addiction, but it still showed the struggle and inspired young people to quit as well. By studying this, students would learn a valuable life lessen and also learn out the influence of propaganda and how it can be found almost anywhere. The only difference between this and Language Arts is that there are pictures and less words. However I do feel like this class will be a valuable teaching tool, and be successful. This would probably be my ideal college course! Although it would be better if they threw in DC comics and movies as well.
This type of class would be definitely an interesting class! i think it is a valid form of education because there are a lot of elements that relate to the real world and are integrated within comics. It'd be a fun and exciting class to participate in. As for my ideal college course, it's probably be more of a free-form of discussion class that also mixes in fun activities and movies.
I think if this class can be implemented into real world situations, it would be a very nice class to have! As the years go on I'm sure the curriculum of this class will change but I wouldn't want our money going into education for classes that aren't helping out greater causes.
Comic books have lots of themes to look at and study, whether it be why a hero had a downfall or what qualities make a hero great. The class has a lot to offer as well as it being a good break from some harder academic classes. I think it's really cool that a class like that is being offered at a university.
My ideal class would be a course that studies the history of metal music or a class that focuses on food consumption, but that's most likely never going to happen.
Personally I love comic books. I have about 62 books at my house with over 100 stories. I have both Marvel and Dc comics. I love hearing that Universities are acknowledging the great narratives and mythology that Marvel studies create in their cinematic universe. However, I truly thinking that paying to hear a lecture on a Marvel movie that you can watch on your own and can understand on your own, is a new level of stupidity (My opinion). My friends and I speak for hours on the course of Marvels Movies and their competitors like WB, Fox and Sony. All it cost us is a few bucks at Taco Bell and some time.
