Five of the weirdest subjects in the world

photographer: Roman Mager @unsplash

When it comes to the curriculum of students, from primary to secondary education, the opinions are innumerable. Some believe that education should be focused on learning foreign languages, others on the exact sciences, and others on sports and the arts. We agree that all these objects play an important role in shaping and building a personality, each with its own specific methods and outlook.

However, there are countries (and schools in particular) that introduce atypical, even eccentric, subjects whose relevance to students is controversial, but undeniably curious. Here are five of the strangest subjects that are actually present in the curriculum:

Manx language

We have already mentioned learning a foreign language. This is great as we imagine the most popular and widely used ones, such as French, German, Italian, even Chinese. In England, however, it is a widespread practice in schools to study Manx, which hardly helps much in life, and which most people have never heard of. It is the official language of the Isle of Man located in the Irish Sea between the United Kingdom and Ireland. As an island nation, it has a specific political status - it is not formally part of Britain, but under its Crown rule, and Queen Elizabeth II is head of state. The island is not part of the European Union, but is nevertheless authorized to import goods into the Member States.

The last person whose mother tongue is the manicdied in 1974. In 90, UNESCO declared the language extinct. In fact, until the early 20 century, language was thought to be old-fashioned and even funny. Recently, however, there has been a kind of renaissance of the manic. It continues to be taught in the island's schools up to Level A, although lessons are optional. Language is part of the culture and heritage of the island. They tried to revive it - a study from 2015 shows that approximately 1800 people speak the language at different levels. At the end of the last century, the language began to become more visible through radio and elementary school. Fortunately, there were enough audio recordings from the locals on Manxwhich facilitated his return, as well as the fact that the Bible was translated into it.

Agriculture

A very unpopular science in recent years globally, unlike the preferred psychology, law and information technology. But the UK continues to prioritize agriculture, and schools like Somerset Academy in Somerset annually accept many applicants looking to grow in the field. The school has 110 acres and a farm with cows, sheep, pigs and bulls. The students take basic care of the animals. They learn how to plant and grow trees, fruits, vegetables, which are then used for the school shop and kitchen. They even learn how to operate a tractor, which allows them to grow their own business from scratch in the future. The school offers courses in the fields of environment, soil, crops, wildlife.

In addition to providing livestock and plant breeding professionals with a diploma for work, the curriculum encourages young people to pay much more attention to land and its conservation through the relationship it creates with it. Humanity is increasingly moving away from nature and forgets that, thanks to its surrounding vegetation and animal diversity, its life continues. And instead of creating new and new ways of facilitating one's life and destroying soil, oxygen, etc., it should take care of protecting them.

Harry Potter

It may not be exactly Hogwarts, but the Durham University will take you out of the Mughal world for a little while and teach you some other magic. The objectives of the course are:

- to put the phenomenon Harry Potter in the social, cultural and educational context, as well as consider the reasons for its popularity.
- consider the relevance of such an educational system in the 21 century.
To see contemporary education in the light of Harry Potter and other fictions.
- make open connections with civic education.

Several key topics are explored:

- The shock of education at home and abroad.

- The time of the illusion after 1945.

- Commercialization of education.

- Mugs and magic.

- Bullying, friendship and solidarity with peers.

"My debt station - Harry Potter and the good citizen."

The basic skills that the student will learn are: critical and independent thinking, analyzing, synthesizing and identifying problems, making and maintaining logical arguments, working with deadlines, study skills, retaining information, and the ability to plan and manage knowledge and learning.
The syllabus ends with a topic from 2 000 words that should be developed within 2 hours.

Lady Gaga

Hardly any Hollywood star has dreamed or imagined that anyone could take a full course to study her personality and her career, but here it is. Mathieu Deflem is so overwhelmed by The Gaga Miraclethat creates an entire academic course for her. The Belgian sociologist regards the pop singer as a social event. In her course, she engages students with the sociological dimensions of glory Lady Gaga, with respect for her music, videos, dress style. Initially, he intended to focus the course on fame and the celebrity in general, but then decided to refine things and make a whole course for Gaga.

The idea is atypical and seemingly useless, but numerous fans of the singer do not think so, and the course goes well. Moreover, thinking about the issues of fame, celebrity, and exploration of the phenomenon that turns an ordinary girl singing into bars into a star can help a great deal in understanding the entire music industry and its philosophy. Useful or not, the course continues its academic activity.

Elven languages

The University of Wisconsin offers an opportunity to study at Elven languages ​​(Tengwa, Kuenya, Sindarin), created by Tolkien. The course is run by American linguist David Salo, an Elven language advisor on the films The Lord of the Rings series, as well as The Hobbit. It helps in translating and writing the soundtrack for movies. Only genuine fans of The Lord of the Rings are accepted in the course.

And an example of the not too distant past. Politics of capitalism и Political economy of socialism were part of the compulsory program in high schools and colleges. These were upgraded in the higher education institutions of the subject Fundamentals of Communism, which was required to take the exam. These are probably the most absurd subjects that existed worldwide and who knows, probably still being studied in Russia.

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