Yale Offers Class on New York’s Nightlife
Make room for another unusual college course. One of students’ favorite pastimes has been transformed into a class at one of America’s oldest universities. Yale University is educating students in the art of painting the town red.
The class, ‘Dance Music and Nightlife Culture in New York City,’ seeks to answer the burning question: “Why do we go out at night?”
Class excursions include trips to New York’s hottest clubs and guest speakers like well-known DJ Simonez Wolf and Vibe magazine co-founder Scott Poulson-Bryant.
Teacher Madison Moore, who is also a doctoral student, assures students that this class isn’t just about getting drunk and partying.
Students will listen to lectures like ‘Studio 54 and Limelight: The Birth of the Mega Club.’ Also, students will read texts from Village Voice writer Michael Musto and 1988 winner of the Ironman Nightlife Decathlon, Anthony Haden-Guest.
“It’s about the history of it, the Harlem cabarets, understanding race, gender, sex, Prohibition and the law,” Moore said.
This class has students elated, and parents scratching their heads about their children’s education at a traditional, prestigious Ivy League school. However, Moore said Yale is a good choice to host such a course.
“I always describe Yale as being … pretty traditional on one hand, but pretty progressive on the other,” he said. “The iPad generation wants to know about pop culture.”
Yale isn’t the first university to offer an unusual course. The University of South Carolina offered the class ‘Sociology of Fame and Lady Gaga,’ while Hood College added Biology of Jurassic Park to its course catalog.
Some may find these quirky classes as a waste of education. However, such classes, though oddly specific, are to be valued in my opinion. Students are forced to take gen-ed classes that may have little or nothing to do with their chosen major. So, why not offer courses that genuinely interest them?
I hope this weird-course fad is here to stay. College students should be excited to learn, and these courses provide such excitement.