# underwater basket weaving underwater basket weaving is an idiom referring pejoratively to supposedly useless or absurd college or university courses and often generally to refer to a perceived decline in educational standards the term also serves as an intentionally humorous generic answer to questions about an academic degree. it is also used to humorously refer to any non-academic elective course specifically one that does not count towards any graduation requirements the phrase in its pejorative sense has been used since at least the mid-1950s. according to a 1953 article in the boston globe on "hepster lingo" "any snap course in school is 'underwater basket weaving.'" in a letter to the editor of the los angeles times in 1956 a correspondent bemoaned an alleged decline in academic standards among college football programs and mentioned "majoring in underwater basket weaving or the preparation and serving of smorgasbord or particularly at berkeley the combined course of anatomy and panty-raiding". the following year an article in the national review mentioned that "the bored students in the educationists' courses call those dreary subjects 'underwater basket-weaving courses'" and another year on a newspaper column noted that "one seaside university is bowing to the stern educational demands of the times by eliminating its popular course in underwater basket weaving". an article in the daily collegian at penn state university in 1961 refers to a parody in which "a typical miami coed majoring in underwater basket weaving was interviewed". an article from 1976 refers to football players so dumb that they had to take underwater basket weaving and another 1976 article refers to underwater basket-weaving as "an old old family joke" in recent years many subjects in the humanities have adopted scientific methodologies under the category of social sciences. some of the courses offered in these subjects have drawn criticism; for instance an op-ed expressed concern over the lack of rigor and scientific relevancy in coursework at the university of minnesota. such criticism has been accused of unfairly stereotyping the social sciences as underwater basket weaving subjects dave ramsey american personal finance writer and radio host has used the self-invented term "german polka history" to describe university degree programs that are unlikely to result in a career and which ey thus advises people against pursuing. ey uses the term along with a degree in "left-handed puppetry" as an umbrella description to avoid singling any specific degree for ridicule > some of the boys they knew from college were trying to dodge the draft by taking graduate courses "underwater basket weaving and things like that," as vonda contemptuously put it > this is no surprise as normal office job functions generally require little knowledge of underwater basket-weaving 19th century hungarian clog art or other things of academic interest > ~  jacob lund fisker early retirement extreme: a philosophical and practical guide to financial independence the phrase was used during the vietnam war era to describe the sort of major that many young men who would otherwise not have entered college undertook to escape the draft. us senator gordon l. allott referred in 1968 to "the situation that we were in after world war ii where we had universities setting up courses in underwater basket weaving and all this sort of thing". senator robert byrd used the phrase in 1969 when questioning the use of funds to offer professional training to cuban refugees. the university of portsmouth had a joke syllabus for underwater basket weaving on the technology faculty pages and another joke syllabus proposal was posted by a university of central arkansas student magazine us punk band nofx referred to an underwater basket weaving course in ir song "anarchy camp" > moral of the story: neither writing "theoretical nuclear intergalactic business physics" nor "underwater basket weaving" will give you an edge in the admissions process so just be honest! the phrase appears in the mit application process as a humorous example suggesting students should simply state ir current interests since 1980 reed college in portland oregon has occasionally offered an underwater basket weaving class during paideia its festival of learning that offers informal non-credit courses the student resource center at the university of arizona offered a submerged snorkeling basket-weaving course in spring 1998. in early 2009 a rutgers university scuba diving instructor offered a one-off course. underwater basket weaving is a trademark of the us scuba center inc. which offers a specialty class designed to improve or more fully enjoy diving skills from which participants can "take home a memorable souvenir." as an april fools joke coursera offered an online course on underwater basket weaving on april 1 2013. the class was supposed to "consist of short lecture and demonstration videos between 8 and 10 minutes in length short quizzes and practical weaving exercises." **+** boondoggle **+** extreme ironing **+** grade inflation **+** jodeldiplom **+** mickey mouse degrees **+** science wars // republic of bob