I understand that this question is pretty stupid and is probably a waste of everyone's time but I was wondering why there are such courses like 'how to choose a tv' I can sort of understand when people really don't know and refuse to be ripped off, but isn't it just a waste of a course that could be teahcing us about The problem with Foster Care, or Africa...
Does anyone understand where I am coming from?
Thanks

The reason why there are such courses is that there is a demand for them. Colleges operate in a competitive market place, and so they need to offer courses that are attractive to prosepctive incoming students so that they can attract the customers they want.

The main purpose of an undergraduate education is to prepare people for life, both professionally and personally, and so it is certainly appropriate to offer courses in the area of personal finance. "How to buy a TV" seems like a bit of a stretch, but I would hope it offers some insights into new technologies and consumer behavior.

Of course it's a waste of time, just as well as taking a science or math or US History class is in a degree program that has nothing to do with the courses. Its part of the college life and they have to have classes for the football players to take, so that they can remain in college.

I sincerely hope you are trying to be bitingly sarcastic. Otherwise, I would have to think that you believe that arts courses serve no purpose to an engineer. Or that history courses serve no purpose to the math major. Or that every college football player (or basketball player or lacrosse player or field hockey player or swimmer or whatever sport you want to put in here) has no need of a traditional higher education because they are going to go on to play in the major league equivalent of their sport after college, and will never need to know things like history, math, arts, and culture, just in case they have to fall back into a second career like being a business executive or being a teacher or a father or a mother or simply a well-rounded individual. And if I thought that, then I would think very little of you, indeed.

No actually I was joking.. about the football players. I went to a major university who was very big on football. I like messin with the guys there who really really would rather be playing football than being in class. I am not saying that football doesn't make them well rounded in itself. But really there are some classes that I have taken that haven't been helpful in my degree for me. Of course I wanted to take the gravy classes If I had the opportunity. I didn't say that there was anything wrong with it anyway.

I like messin with the guys there who really really would rather be playing football than being in class.

Thank you so much for clearing that up. :)

The main reason a lot of those courses are offered, and in some instances required, is so that the student is well-rounded in all areas of education, not specifically their major.

In this way, if a student decides to change their major, many of these credits will transfer to the other courses.

But a class in "How to choose a TV" sounds utterly ridiculous to me.

Some classes do sound ridiculous but.. I suppose there needs to be something for everyone. And just like with all classes, or electives, if enough people do not take the class the class is usually not offered again. I hear jokes a lot about "underwater basketweaving".. Was this ever really a class offered because I actually have searched for it and can't find it.