The Ivy League research university – Harvard is one of the world’s most prestigious universities, demanding a lot of expectations from its students. Aside from dealing with general college stress, taking hardcore classes can also toll a student’s mental health. So we have curated a list of accessible courses you can take that will enlighten you and boost your GPA. Here are the 10 of the easiest classes at Harvard University below.
1. HIST 97J – “What is Family History?”
Every family has a history; every past actor had a family. This section of History 97 investigates the practices and purposes of family history, an analytic frame that opens some of the most challenging topics in contemporary life. We will explore primary sources ranging from diaries and photographs to party platforms and survey methods ranging from demography to cultural history to biography. Our topics will include the Black family in slavery and freedom, the meanings of marriage, and the contested relationship between the household and the state. In addition to tracing the contours of family life across a wide array of times and places, we will investigate the ebbs and flows of family history itself, including the worldwide boom in amateur genealogy today.
2. ECON 1425 – Political Economics
Discusses several research areas in political economy, including the origins of the state, comparative political systems, theories of economic reform, fiscal problems in democracies, the rule of law, privatization, and regulation.
3. GENED 1140 – Borders
As a society, we pay particular attention to borders when incidents such as children separated from their asylum-seeking parents or tear-gas being used to deter entry throw the legal divide between two nation-states into sharp relief. But seldom do we stop to think about what a border is or when and why some borders are defended more aggressively than others. This course looks at the modern history of borders, broadly construed, from national boundaries between sovereign countries to supranational agreements such as the European Union. It considers how borders are erected and dissolved, both legally and materially. And it queries the legal, diplomatic, social, and ethical considerations that ensue from drawing a line between one side and another and defending that line. We will also consider how actors within societies create internal (often racialized) boundary lines such as “gated communities” or “redlined zones” that are sometimes extra-legal or even illegal but have profound effects on the everyday lives of individuals and groups.
4. HLS 1002 – Criminal Law 1
This course considers the basic themes of substantive criminal law, including criminal responsibility, the significance of the act, intent, causation and result, justification and excuse, and the rationales for punishment. General doctrinal principles of the criminal law and illustrative crimes are studied, including attempts, conspiracy, the law of accomplice liability, defences such as self-defence and insanity, and aspects of the law of homicide and rape. The course also considers some crucial issues in the administration of the criminal justice system, with particular emphasis on the phenomenon of discretion. The rationales for allowing discretion, the proper scope of discretion, and the practical effects of discretion are examined in the context of particular institutional actors, with a focus on prosecutorial charging discretion, the practice of plea bargaining, and current debates about sentencing discretion.
5. GENED 1122 – The Social Responsibilities of Universities
What do universities owe society? Since their origins in medieval Europe, universities have been granted special privileges because they have been understood to contribute to social welfare. Do these privileges incur corresponding obligations on universities? Should they influence how universities educate their students or create, share and preserve knowledge or conduct their internal affairs? To explore these questions, we will examine normative texts about higher education’s purposes, social scientific studies of how universities function and examples from the history of US higher education. For each of these three domains–the education of students, the production of knowledge, and the administration of institutions–we will analyze historical cases, such as universities’ contribution to the military effort during World War I and universities role in “urban renewal” during the 1950s and ’60s, as well as contemporary controversies, such as affirmative action and divestment. Students will be asked to consider these issues from the perspective of university leaders and the larger society’s interests and consider what it means to them as members of an academic community.
6. AAAS 122910 – Introduction to African American Studies
This course will examine canonical texts of the Afro-American intellectual tradition. WEB.Du Bois, Lorraine Hansberry, and James Baldwin will set the scene and stage for other towering figures such as Walker, Douglass, Morrison, Wright, Drake, Frazier, Lorde, Wilson, Gates, Cooper, Baraka (Jones), Malcolm X, and others.
7. Psychology 1 123941 – Introduction to Psychological Science
Psychology 1 is not just an introduction to the field of psychology but an owner’s manual for the human mind — and an opportunity to explore some of the most fascinating issues in intellectual life. After laying a foundation in concepts about the brain, evolution, information, nature and nurture, and scientific approaches to psychology, the course covers specific topics including perception, cognition, attention, learning, memory, emotion, decision making, consciousness, development, language, personality, individual differences, psychopathology, social cognition, cooperation and conflict, and love and sex.
8. Drawing 1 203312 – Drawing as a Visual Language
A studio course of building the skills of drawing incrementally and expanding students’ visual vocabulary. Drawings will be made from life, photographs and invention. Emphasis will be placed on enhancing our observational sensibilities through life drawing and the figure, focusing on all aspects of technical development, particularly the importance of line. The aim of this course is to expand drawing skills with intention and purpose.
9. Sociology 97 – Tutorial in Sociological Theory
This course introduces students to the complicated, conflictual, and often contradictory theoretical origins of sociology as a discipline. We begin by reading the standard sociological “canon”—Marx, Weber, and Durkheim—and interrogating why their ideas were canonized over others. We then read scholars who have been historically “written out” of the social sciences to evaluate their importance, yet historically underappreciated, contributions. By the end of the course, students should (1) master key concepts in classical sociological thought, (2) understand what it means to theorize and what makes for a good theory, and (3) learn to critically interrogate the relationship between power, standpoint, and the production of knowledge.
10. Economics 10A – Principles of Economics (Microeconomics)
Economists study human behaviour using a combination of models and data. Ec 10a introduces students to economic models by using intuitive discussions, graphical analysis, and, in some cases, elementary algebra. The models study individual decision-making and markets and range from classical approaches like supply and demand to more recent methods that consider informational limitations and behavioural mistakes. We will also use data to understand the strengths and weaknesses of these models.
