Yale (Yes, The Ivy League University) Starts Class On Beyonce’s Cultural Impact Because Why Spend $87k A Year On Anything Else?

Before you start blasting off about how lots of colleges have classes on impactful celebrities, hold your breath. I'm well aware of it and hate it all. I went to college and took some classes that certainly didn't have an impact on my current job but did add layers to my education that truly were impactful in making me a more well rounded individual, so I'm not at all against taking classes simply for the benefit of learning something and getting exposed to a new perspective on a topic, but can we be honest for a second and admit that a class on Beyonce's impact is going to be preaching to the choir and not a single person enrolled wouldn't already describe themselves as a fervent "Bey Hive" member? But exposure of new ideas to uninitiated students be damned, if they can get kids to take out six-figure loans to learn about something you can just open up Twitter/X to see, why wouldn't they? Sure saves a lot of money on research, you can just task some grad assistant to run through her discography and social media posts for course content and watch music videos when you don't feel like teaching, talk about a cushy job! Similar to Harvard's course on Taylor Swift, Yale just announced they would be rolling out a course on the political and cultural impact of Beyonce Knowles-Carter, the massively popular artist behind songs like "Single Ladies" and "Crazy In Love." She also released a "country" album this year, (though she herself called it "not a country album") titled Cowboy Carter, which was lauded by music critics at large but generally viewed as "not country" by those in the industry. And then, it was nominated for a bunch of Grammys in the country music categories. Confused yet? Me too... Regardless of how you feel about the quality music, the album's release was undoubtedly was the talk of the entertainment world for like... a week, and then faded into a bit of an afterthought. Shaboozey blew up, but overall, the album didn't result in a massive, and perhaps more importantly, a sustained spotlight for black country artists like many were expecting. Luke Bryan received a lot of backlash for stating the obvious... that Beyonce didn't really do anything to participate in the broader country music community, and given the fact that she explicitly said it was NOT a country album, why would she? She's the biggest star in music, she's supposed to do what... an episode of CMT Hot 20 Countdown? C'mon... Nevertheless, Cowboy Carter is a another significant chapter in the incredible music legacy that Beyonce has worked to create for herself. In light of this, Yale is starting a course titled "Beyonce Makes History: Black Radical Tradition History, Culture, Theory & Politics Through Music" which will explore her catalogue from 2013 self-titled debut record to Cowboy Carter. It will be taught by Daphne A. Brooks, a professor of African American studies, American studies, women's gender and sexuality studies, and music, according to New Haven, CT based News8. https://twitter.com/beyoncepress/status/1854909419991044141 Yale's course catalog provides this description for the class: "This class centers the 2010s and 2020s’ sonic and visual repertoire of Beyonce Knowles-Carter (from 2013’s self-titled album through 2024’s Cowboy Carter) as the portal through which to rigorously examine key interdisciplinary works of Black intellectual thought and grassroots activist practices across the centuries. Its aim is two-fold: to both explore and analyze the dense, robust and virtuosic aesthetics, socio-historical and political dimensions of Beyonce’s pathbreaking, mid-career body of work and to, likewise, use her aesthetics; the multi-dimensional form and content of her recordings; her boundary-transgressing performance politics; her history-making visual albums; her innovative concert films; her unprecedented pop music archival endeavors and more as the occasion to explore landmark Black Studies scholarship and Black freedom struggle scholarly and cultural texts (in history, Black feminist theory, philosophy, anthropology, art history, performance studies, musicology, political science, sociology, dance, American Studies, religious studies, archival studies etc.) that directly resonate with Beyonce’s sonic, visual and live performance endeavors. In short, this is a class that traces the relationship between Beyonce’s artistic genius and Black intellectual practice." I'm not here to poo-poo the people interested in the class, I'd probably try to enroll if I needed an extra credit or two just out of interest, but I do want to question if this is the type of material one of the country's most prestigious universities should be devoting resources toward. The American public is facing a severe shortage of trade workers and the abilities of many college grads first entering the workforce are questioned constantly given the challenges and lack of hands-on experience many of these new doctors, lawyers, nurses, teachers, accountants, etc. received during a Covid-impacted college education. Shouldn't there be a strict focus on ensuring alums of your school, especially a school like Yale, are absolutely as prepared as possible to enter the workforce? Hasn't the goal of higher education always been to push students hard and prepare them for a career that can actually be impactful and valuable to society at large? Also, let's not pretend that Yale is cheap... I get that by definition it's supposed to be exclusive and not available to every 18 year old who wants to be an Eli (again, part of the reason it's shocking that Yale is allowing a course like this) but all-in (housing and food plan included)  tuition currently sits at around $87,150 per year. You're telling me a good use of that much money (47% higher than the median American salary) is studying Beyonce's songs? Come on, you can do better than that. If it wasn't Yale this wouldn't be as much of a problem but it is Yale, and while there's plenty of people online saying that these courses are much more than listening to music for an hour (my sister took a class on Taylor Swift at her school and said it went way further outwards than she expected), it's absolutely fair to not like it and view it as just another way that institutions of higher education are out of step with the general public. Sure, they're a private school and can do what they want with their curriculum, but I think I speak for a large segment of the population when I say "Why? Just why?" Be sure to let us know on socials what you think about this. Am I alone in feeling this way? https://twitter.com/ourhermitage/status/1856405719328674210