It’s only fitting that ‘the greatest city in the world’ has a university that offers some of the most unique classes that a school can offer. As one of the most prestigious universities in the country –and the world –NYU classes offer students a chance to build a wide knowledge base, with one NYU school, the Gallatin School of Individualized Studies, even encouraging students to ‘make your own major’
The uniqueness of these NYU classes, however, belies the importance they have in creating a wholistic person by teaching students the importance of what it is to be human. Here are 10 Unique NYU Classes that you should look into:
Unique NYU Classes: TwentySomething
With Gen-Z entering their mid-20’s, it’s high time for them to start learning about their psychological development outside of social media. To this end, NYU’s Child and Adolescent Studies department offers a class called “Twentysomething”, a lecture that explores the “emerging adulthood” theory and evaluates the various factors that help shape the kind of adults that adolescents will become, particularly in the modern American zeitgeist.
It’s a fascinating class that gives a glimpse on how pop culture, history, and politics can and does impact the way a person grows up, shaping their psychology and benefits/detracts from a person’s holistic development.
Unique NYU Classes: The Science of Happiness
One of NYU’s most popular classes, The Science of Happiness is actually part of NYU’s main curriculum, and for good reason: it’s a class that teaches us the importance of happiness, how maintaining your mental health is an integral aspect of one’s personality, how the subjectivity of such a complex emotion differs in meaning from person to person, and why the pursuit of happiness –despite being one of the main concepts behind “The American Dream –is not what you might expect.
Fusing philosophy and science, The Science of Happiness is an integral part in every NYU student’s tenure in the school, as it allows them to pursue that which keeps them positive and motivated and allows them to understand that elusive emotion “happiness” using data and science.
Unique NYU Classes: Black Lives Matter: Race, Media, and Popular Protest
A relatively new class offered by NYU, Black Lives Matter: Race, Media, and Popular Protest takes a long and hard look at one of the most contentious and pivotal social movements in American society. The class engages in both scholarly studies and active debates that revolve around the concept of Black Lives Matter, from the protests and other counter-cultural movements to media portrayals and popular reception
This class aims to understand and evaluate the Black Lives Matter movement through a critical lens, with students expected to engage one another in (civil) discourse that can involve everything from the moral ethics of looting, violent vs. non-violent civil disobedience, intersectional politics, and the role of black feminist and LGBTQ+ in the Black Lives Matter movement.
Unique NYU Classes: Love Actually
Another popular class offered by NYU’s Child and Adolescent Studies department, Love Actually is a class that studies the science of, well, love. Taking its name from one of the most popular rom-com movies of all time, Love Actually is an in-depth look at the psychological aspect of love and how it’s more of a mental construct with meaning rather than an abstract and arcane emotion, and a good way to find out whether you’re with your “forever person”.
No word yet as to whether two students have fallen in love while taking the class together, but seeing as it’s one of the most popular tropes in pop culture –especially because it’s set in New York –it wouldn’t be too far off.
Unique NYU Classes: The Performance of Everyday Life
One of the Tisch School of the Art’s most popular –and notoriously difficult –classes, The Performance of Everyday Life is a class that teaches students how everyday and mundane interactions can, and often is, an opportunity to explore performance art. It’s a vastly different theater class in that, while it does touch on other aspects of theater, like technicalities or keeping your wig healthy during a performance, it teaches students the why of acting and performance in general.
The Performance of Everyday Life is an eclectic mix of theater, psychology, anthropology, and sociology, and aims to teach students about the innate significance of the normal, and how our ‘inconsequential’ performance in everyday life can and often shapes how we perform on stage.
Unique NYU Classes: Drugs and Kids
Yet another offering from NYU’s Child and Adolescent Studies department, Drugs & Kids is a class that takes a hard look at psychoactive substances, drug abuse, and abuse prevention in children and adolescents. Although the course title might sound like it’s making levity out of a serious topic, the course is anything but light: topics can and will range from underage drug abuse, government policies on minors and drugs and how damaging it is, and the minutiae behind the different types of street drugs and their physical, emotional, mental, and psychological impact on children.
Many students consider this to be a very difficult class specifically because it deals with the topic of child abuse, whether inflicted by family members or by society at large.
So, if you’re not interested in pursuing conventional courses, consider one of these unique and individualized NYU classes. They’re more than worth checking out.
