academic trash?

[bmcke]

Subject: How should NAQT change its distribution for 2010-11?

1. I feel that something should be done to make trash more academically orientated and to give it a fairly well defined canon.

In the NAQT distribution thread, some people are talking about how trash questions in academic events could be more culturally relevant, or more academically relevant. This sounds pretty cool. What does it mean?

I know the Chicago Open trash sets are usually the more "sophisticated" trash sets, but it seems to me like that reputation comes from the writing more than from the subject matter. I am curious what academic trash is.

- Would academic trash be like regular trash, but written about highbrow topics?
- Would academic trash follow the standard trash distribution?
- What are the common stylistic differences between trash and regular quizbowl? Where would academic trash fit in this?
- Has academic trash been written before, other than just as a by-product of regular trash?

The (necessary) tradition in quiz bowl is to keep high culture and pop culture very, very separate. This is the opposite of what most people I know do in real life. I kind of wonder if there are ways to bridge this gap without compromising how academic quizbowl works.

[AKKOLADE]

Academic trash is a fiction.

[Sen. Estes Kefauver (D-TN)]

Stop lying Fred!

Greg Thomas, an English professor at Syracuse University, began teaching "Hip-Hop Eshu: Queen B@#$H Lyricism 101". Kim herself was a guest speaker at the school. Professor Thomas considered Kim's lyrics "the art with the most profound sexual politics I've ever seen anywhere."[9]

[MicroEStudent]

As long as we're posting from syllabuses, from RIT's course catalog:

History of Baseball -Fall Quarter
Dr. Rebecca Edwards
It has been said that the history of baseball is the history of the United States. Perhaps. At least, it is one possible way of organizing the story of American history. This survey course will move from the origins of baseball in the nineteenth century to its current form in the twentieth century and cover questions of race, gender, ethnicity, and the professionalization of sports, as well as such controversies as night games, the incredible striking strike zone, and the designated hitter rule.

I took this class as an elective and it was enjoyable. However, not enough people had deep enough of a baseball background to have discussions as lively as I had hoped.

[Dresden_The_BIG_JERK]

As long as we're posting from syllabuses, from RIT's course catalog:

History of Baseball -Fall Quarter
Dr. Rebecca Edwards
It has been said that the history of baseball is the history of the United States. Perhaps. At least, it is one possible way of organizing the story of American history. This survey course will move from the origins of baseball in the nineteenth century to its current form in the twentieth century and cover questions of race, gender, ethnicity, and the professionalization of sports, as well as such controversies as night games, the incredible striking strike zone, and the designated hitter rule.

I took this class as an elective and it was enjoyable. However, not enough people had deep enough of a baseball background to have discussions as lively as I had hoped.

Yeah, if at least one person didn't get punched during the DH discussion then it wasn't the right mix of people.

[Cheynem]

I remember hating the DH rule until I read a very well written article arguing for its usage. I'll have to try to find it when I go home.

[MicroEStudent]

Yeah, if at least one person didn't get punched during the DH discussion then it wasn't the right mix of people.

Sadly, the biggest argument came during a discussion of steroids where (in my opinion) a shockingly high percentage of the class (about 75%) said that all players should be allowed to use whatever steroids they want. I think there was some fists hitting tables during that one.

I'm split on the DH; I enjoy NL-style small ball and double switches, but I like the offense that the AL-style play provides. If I had to choose one and stick with it, I'd choose no DH.

Back on topic: I'm sure that there are enough "academic" type things that could be written in to some questions. In sports, there's been plenty of literature on baseball, some of the productions by NFL Films are quite interesting, even something like Bill Simmons' Book of Basketball.

However, I challenge someone to be able to write one packet using the criteria in the first post. I don't think it would be easy.

[Rothlover]

Sigh, steroids is the most annoyingly worthless thing in baseball to argue about. Even a debate about the effect of treated baseballs in Coors Field is more fruitful. DH is good. Pitchers are no longer meant to be athletes in the complete sense and requiring the highest quality squad to be fielded on each side is to the benefit of game quality, and ultimately, strategy, moreso than having a replacement level hittter pinch hit for a sub-replacement level pitcher in 30-40 truly high leverage PAs a game.

[The Moviegoer]

Berkeley teaches a class on Brood War:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7XiE_V0PZ8

"Academic trash" would be impossible to codify,however.

[Geringer]

Berkeley teaches a class on Brood War:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7XiE_V0PZ8

"Academic trash" would be impossible to codify,however.

Quizbowl certainly requires more vespene gas.

[Captain Sinico]

My shock at the derailing of this thread can safely be said to be bounded.

M