For the past few months, a student from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, has been uploading videos to TikTok of what can only be described as the most unserious college class I’ve ever witnessed, thanks to a particularly unorthodox professor.
First was the video where the professor gave students the option to write a 15,000-word paper or do a 15-second dance in front of the class; an option at least one student took, dancing to Blondie’s “Call Me,” while the rest of the class opted for option two, 15,000 words on the implications of A.I. for biomedical engineering, which he added was “due tonight” (remember that, it’ll become important later).
Then there was the video about the professor offering extra credit to anyone who left class while a sad song, namely “Gotta Go My Own Way” from High School Musical 2, played, with two boys channeling Troy and Gabriela and walking out together. Another student left class as “When She Loved Me” by Sarah McLachlan from the Toy Story 2 soundtrack played, and another was played out by “He Stopped Loving Her Today” by George Jones as the professor himself became overwhelmed with emotion.
Most recently, there was the video about the professor letting someone who is failing the class — I struggle to understand how anyone could fail a class that seems to be 100 percent vibes based and not remotely academic — spend the 90-minute final class dancing in order to pass. According to the countdown on the screen behind her, she danced to Haddaway’s “What is Love” for the entire 90 minutes as everyone else gradually left.
There was also the video in which someone sang a Zach Bryan song in front of the class in an attempt to gain both extra credit and tickets to see Zach Bryan, because apparently this professor moonlights as a radio DJ when he’s not entertaining a classroom full of college students.
The fact that this keeps happening, combined with little signs like the 15,000-word paper being “due tonight,” suggest to me that these are all skits. My theory then? The class is about social media virality or social media misinformation, and the videos are a way for the students to learn about them in real time. The fact that Kenzie, who posted all of these videos, is a student of UTK’s School of Journalism and Media, only confirms that theory for me.
The videos are entertaining, but hopefully both the students and viewers at home let them serve as a reminder that not everything you see on social media is as it seems.
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