Image 01 Image 03

Some Colleges and Universities Have Courses on How to Survive the ‘Zombie Apocalypse’

Some Colleges and Universities Have Courses on How to Survive the ‘Zombie Apocalypse’

“colleges such as East Tennessee State University, Saint Xavier, George Mason University, and more, either offered the zombie-related courses at one point or still offer them”

Zombies are popular in movies and TV shows right now. That doesn’t mean they’re a serious topic for college courses.

FOX News reports:

American colleges offer classes on ‘Zombie studies’: ‘Apocalypse has arrived’

Colleges and universities across America are no stranger to offering implementing wacky course offerings, and some now offer classes on how to survive the “Zombie apocalypse.”

While Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis bashed so-called “zombie studies” during a bill-signing speech on higher education reform, it turns out many colleges across America offer zombie-themed courses.

“I’m a big believer in higher education but I’m not a believer in plunging people $150,000 into debt with a degree in ‘zombie studies,’” DeSantis said in June 2022, according to WUSF. “That is not a pathway to success.”

According to a report from the College Fix, colleges such as East Tennessee State University, Saint Xavier, George Mason University, and more, either offered the zombie-related courses at one point or still offer them.

In fall 2022, the East Tennessee State University Board of Trustees approved a course titled “Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse.”

The course appears under the East Tennessee State University’s rehabilitative health sciences program, titled “Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse: An Interprofessional Approach.”

The course will provide “an interdisciplinary approach to a course-specific theme on the zombie apocalypse while allowing the exploration of personal development, intellectual growth, and what it means to be a college student in a [Clinical & Rehabilitative Health Sciences] major,” according to a description online.

DONATE

Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.

Comments

Well, it’s about time that they taught something practical.

Morning Sunshine | February 3, 2023 at 12:36 pm

I think a “zombie apocalypse” class could be useful; how to:
cook from scratch
garden
forage and hunt
butcher
herbal meds
basic building techniques
build relationships with other survivors (including people with whom you might disagree in some issues)
sewing
self-defense
basic auto maintenance

aka – LIFE SKILLS

A course like that makes sense to me. Zombies are the perfect politically correct villain for our times.

Much like monster movies in the 1950’s can be seen as sublimating fears about nuclear bombs or recasting Satan as a clown during the Enlightenment.

I agree with all commenters here. The course, if implemented correctly, could actually teach life skills.

I can’t speak for universities or what their intentions are with these courses, but I know within the community I am a part of (rural, self-sufficient, firearms owning people), the “zombie apocalypse” thing is just a metaphor for any event that might disrupt civil society and require preparedness. Could be a weather event, could be civil unrest, could be the zombie apocalypse. The point is the preparedness, not the event.

Although some of us take preparedness seriously, we don’t take ourselves too seriously. The zombie thing is all in good fun. Perhaps the same thing with these university courses? IDK

Wow, the comments are all lining up on the same theme, and not the one in the article.

Out here, “surviving the zombie apocalypse” is a “redneck politically correct” phrase used to discuss plain old SHTF survivalism around the Muggles. Zombies per se actually have nothing to do with it… unless you want to style roving gangs of looters as “zombies,” and then why not.

I could design a pretty good curriculum for such a course. It would have nothing to do with “intellectual growth and what it means to be a college student.” It would have a lot to do with developing diverse life skills (now there’s a diversity I can get behind) and what it means to be capable and self-reliant.

I think we even used to have those courses in my childhood, They called them Home Ec and Shop.

I see nothing wrong with this. For years, the CDC had a page on preparing for the zombie apocalypse. They took it down (COVID?), but I used to reference the page in an assignment on simulating disease spread. Teaching a course on how society might fare in a zombie apocalypse — stages of devolution, etc. — and how to survive in such a situation would be a very interesting class to teach and take.

BierceAmbrose | February 4, 2023 at 3:10 pm

Those nonsense Zombie Apocalypse Course examples only show you can make any topic, no matter how on-point, ridiculous, irrelevant, or both if you try hard enough.

What could be more relevant done right, in a world where The End of the World as We Know It is a constant real risk, or constant ginned-up panic.