Centre College in Danville, Kentucky offers an annual three week long CentreTerm each January. Centre faculty members create interesting, and often crazy, themed classes that mesh with their particular interests and learning passions. Well known as a term for the intense study of different or odd subject matter, these courses may include topics on popular culture, music, literature and more. Past courses include the Beatles, the Psychology of Alfred Hitchcock, The Art of Walking, Food in Film, Fiction, and the Fine Arts and Snakes on a Plane (the last of which explores social, cultural and biological topics related to snakes).
The art of film often lends itself to the odd and sometimes bizarre. Students of this subject may find a multitude of crazy college courses throughout U.S. universities. Although some of these classes may appear outlandish to the outsider, studying a variety of film genres is actually advantageous to the serious student of this fine art. Students who wish to make films or work in arts organizations or museums supporting film and video departments must have a broad knowledge of film and video that ranges from mainstream popular culture titles to the obscure. For example, the University of Pittsburgh's Film Studies department offers highly specific courses such as Hong Kong Cinema, Horror Film and Science Fiction Film.
Basic biology and chemistry may be far from wacky, but many colleges and universities take higher level scientific learning to a new level with an assortment of courses that many would term crazy. Oklahoma State University offers a course titled The Frankenstein Factor that focuses on the scientific and ethical considerations in the field of genetic engineering, while Oregon State University provides budding bug scientists the opportunity to explore the link between pop culture and the insect world with Far Side Entomology based on the Gary Larson cartoons.
Underwater basket weaving is as completely crazy and impractical as it sounds. This odd sounding, mostly fictional, course is often synonymous with frivolous and unnecessary classes. The butt of many a liberal arts joke, underwater basket weaving was in fact a real course offered at the University of California San Diego. In the mid-'80s the college provided students with the option to explore weaving techniques in both pool and Jacuzzi environments.