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>> Matt: College. University. Extra School. It’s where you go to finish your education
and kill several of the brain cells that got you there in the first place. In our ever-changing
world, institutions are scrambling to provide students with courses of substance, so that
they can really say that they got their money’s worth. Hahahahahaha. That’s impossible.
College is stupid expensive. What are they teaching us? How to cure cancer? They don’t
know! Ahhh…the whole system’s broken. Which is why classes like Tuft University’s
“Demystifying the Hipster” and Skidmore’s “Sociology of Miley Cyrus” have made waves,
but the most essential course to pop up yet is Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s
“CMS.400 Media Systems and Texts.” Confused? How about I call it by its colloquial name:
Credit for Reddit. It hit the campus last year and is actually pretty fascinating. It
examines Reddit through a lens of psychology, data analysis, and social theory.
Reddit, as a concept, is definitely worth studying academically. How on earth a largely
self-policing community governs itself and creates and finds content with such regularity
is worth studying. Researcher Chris Peterson, who teaches the course with his colleague
Ed Schiappa, says that he wants to “…make sure people understand that the technology
they use in their daily lives is rooted very deeply in important social issues.” Wow.
Well, before we get too excited about applied social theory through a lens that we can relate
to, let’s check in with the students? Why are they taking the class in droves? Peterson
says, “as one student put it, ‘I already Reddit instead of homework, so I might as
well Reddit for homework.’” Ah. Right. Good job, America.
So now we want to hear from you: Should colleges and universities be working harder to provide
students with classes that feel relevant to their everyday lives? Let us know in the comments.
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