This Is Why They Hate Us

"Us" being liberal arts collegiate types, and "This" being a course at New York University called "Baseball as a Road to God."  As you roll your eyes and wonder what has become of academic rigor, let me state for the record that the course is not as frivolous as it sounds.

Well, OK, it's exactly as frivolous as it sounds, but, in fairness, that's no more frivolous than many another course at any number of colleges and universities across our nation.  The fact is, almost any humanities course--whether focusing on the plays of Shakespeare or the philosophy of "Star Trek" (Georgetown University)--serves an important purpose beyond the superficially "fluffy" nature of the content--the point of the humanities being to teach people how to think critically and apply higher levels of reasoning to abstract topics.  Indeed, I would go so far as to say that no topic is inherently inappropriate or too insignificant to form a basis for critical inquiry.  Then again, I've written three blog posts on Abilify commercials, so mine may not be the most unbiased viewpoint.

I love baseball, and I am an NYU alumnus, so I don't begrudge the university's offering this class. And if students (or their parents) don't mind shelling out a couple thousand bucks to weigh the relative merits of the beatification of Joe DiMaggio or Pope John Paul II, more power to 'em. The only true outrage of "Baseball as a Road to God" may be found in this quote:

Around Dr. Sexton sat 18 undergraduates, some religious and some not, some bleacher diehards and some not . . . .It is the sort of course in which the teaching assistants go by the angelic designation “Celestials” and discussion sections are named for Derek Jeter and Willie Mays among other diamond luminaries.

The man has 18 students? And he needs TEACHING ASSISTANTS?