Colorado State U. Offered a Spanish Class Centered Around Taylor Swift
“There is no better sign of the sad state of the humanities than the effort to appeal to 18-year-olds with the mass culture they imbibe hourly”
Lagging enrollment is bringing out desperation in some corners of higher education.
The College Fix reports:
Colorado State U. offers Spanish class ‘through the lens of Taylor Swift’
Colorado State University recently offered a Spanish course centered on pop star Taylor Swift, a move one former professor told The College Fix reflects a decline in the humanities.
CSU’s course titled “Spanish for Swiftie Purposes (Taylor’s Version)” promised students the chance to improve their “Spanish proficiency and cultural knowledge and implications through the lens of Taylor Swift,” according to the description.
Assignments in the class included analyzing and translating lyrics, comparing Swift’s songs to those of Spanish artists, and exploring Swift’s “global and cultural impact on the Spanish-speaking world.”
Professor Alyssia Miller de Rutte designed the course “to be a fun and interactive experience, utilizing Taylor Swift’s themes and lyrics to enhance language learning.”
It was part of the school’s Summer 2025 online Languages, Literatures, and Cultures program.
The Fix reached out to CSU and the professor via multiple emails to learn more about the course, but received no reply.
However, First Things senior editor Mark Bauerlein told The College Fix via email that the course illustrates how far language and literature programs have fallen.
“There is no better sign of the sad state of the humanities than the effort to appeal to 18-year-olds with the mass culture they imbibe hourly,” Bauerlein said.
“The departments know that they need to boost enrollments, which have been steadily dropping—foreign language majors of any kind amount to less than one percent of the whole—and they’re going about it in exactly the wrong way,” the former English Professor said.
Miller de Rutte, on the other hand, believes her approach is an innovative and effective teaching method.
The professor previously told CSU’s student newspaper, The Collegian, that students in her course analyzed all of Swift’s albums and analyze the most common words or themes.
Miller de Rutte also told The Collegian that her students were unusually enthusiastic about this course.
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swift vs shakira>>>>the hip off contest
What’s a “Taylor Swift”?
I jest, of course, but only partially. I understand from headlines and references that she’s some kind of entertainer. However, I haven’t paid any attention to “popular culture” in nearly thirty years – it’s neither popular nor culture. The latest music I listen to was released in the early ’90s, the latest movie I’ve watched premiered in 1996. Most of the authors I read have succumbed to old age.
“ What’s a “Taylor Swift”?”
A clothing maker who works quickly. Everyone knows that.
She’s some NFL dude’s new wife.
What’s an “NFL”?
Obvious cultural appropriation.
It’s so hard to write satire when reality almost immediately catches up to it.
Netflix produced a sequel to “That ’70s Show” called “That ’90s Show” in which Eric had found success as an adjunct professor at a Chicago college, teaching a course called “The Religion of Star Wars.”