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The Joy of Garbage Transcript
Characters:NBC News Anchor: Matt Lauer, Today National Correspondent: Jenna Wolfe, Character 1-3, Simpsons, Student 1, Student 2, Professor, Student 3, & College Representative
MATT Higher education has come a long way from the three R’s. Today colleges are offering all kinds of classes many you probably won’t believe. Today National Correspondent, Jenna Wolfe is here today to explain that. Jenna, how bad are these?
JENNA It is not bad, it is good. It depends on how much you are into education. When I was in think back to college I remember taking my Psych 101, English lit, maybe a little biology. While universities still require those core classes what we used to come to know as liberal arts now has a much wider definition.
VIDEO(The Little Rascals)(cut to movie clip)
CHARACTER 1I wish that there was some way that we could get out of school today.
CHARACTER 2Me, too.
CHARACTER 3Me, too, neither… hmmm.
JENNA Do you remember taking algebra back in school and wondering: when am I evergoing to use this in real life? Wouldn’t it have been much more fun studying sports orcooking or TV, like “Family Ties”? Well, now you can. As universities across thecountry have begun offering practical courses. The key word there being “practical.”At Center College in Kentucky they offer a course called “The Art of Walking,”where students learn about nature while burning off a few calories at the same time. Youlike TV? Well, at Cal Berkley (cut to opening scene of The Simpsons) they’ve got aseminar called “Simpsons and Philosophy.”
SIMPSONSThis is a chance for me to fulfill my life-long dream.
JENNA Yeah. That Simpsons, where you actually write an episode for your final exam.
SIMPSONSUh, let’s watch something else.
JENNAEven Yale, an Ivy League school, has added a few trendy classes to their
curriculum, such as “The History of Shopping.” Sign me up! Or “The Culture of Things.”
Talk about a broad topic. We caught up with Yale professor Shelley Kagan who teaches
one of the more popular courses on campus called “Death.”
STUDENT 1 I took both “Life” and “Death.”
JENNA Yes, he also teaches “Life,” just in case you were wondering.
STUDENT 2A course in “Death” or a course in “Life” has sort of like a cache ring to it.
PROFESSOR It’s not that this is an attempt to tell you “here is what life is.” The real ideaof the class was to look at some of the decisions people make as they go through life.
JENNAJust how popular is “Death?” I mean the course, not the act.
PROFESSOR Yale Daily claimed it was the third largest class last semester on campus.
JENNASanta Clara University has a class called “The Joy of Garbage,” which, if you’recatching on here, is more than just putting your waste in the appropriate bin. Here in New
York City, Barnard College students are just getting started on a new class called“Revenge.” And I’ll bet you won’t find a single Red Sox fan in this class at Rutgers
University called “Yankee Stadium.”
STUDENT 3My Dad asked him what I registered for and I told him all my classes, I said
“Expository Writing” and “Yankee Stadium,” and he just looked at me and said “Are you kidding?”
JENNA Want to sign up for this one? You’d be one of two hundred students vying foronly twenty slots. That’s called popular. It’s the most popular class in the – in the historyof our in the – in the history of our seminar catalog, I’ve been told.
JENNA Is everybody that signs up for this class a Yankees fan?
COLLEGE Well, we haven’t had a Red Sox fan yet. I – I don’t think they would come.
JENNA A class about the Yankees may seem like a no-brainer if you’re interested in
sports management. But discussions have ranged from business to sociology to
philanthropy. And, yeah, also the captain of the baseball team.If I told you that Jeter is actually here today and is going to come in and speakto you, you don’t – that doesn’t affect you at all because you don’t really care becauseyou know it’s just about the stadium, right?
STUDENT 3I wouldn’t go that far.
JENNAThey did think the class was about Derek Jeter. I scored! I got to the bottom.
Tell Derek he doesn’t have to come – No, they don’t care. Alright, I’ll admit if some of these courses were offered back when I was in school I might have actually stayed for an advanced degree.
[End of Audio]
From “The Joy of Garbage”, by NBC News Archives. (2011). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Higher Education. Copyright 2011 by McGraw-Hill Higher Education. Adapted with permission.