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5 lessons missing from the ‘Walking Dead’ online college course

The class will teach you about social order and spread of disease, but not how to kill the undead.

 

Kris Holt

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Posted on Sep 5, 2013   Updated on Jun 1, 2021, 7:18 am CDT

In order to survive a zombie apocalypse, you’ll need to know how to find supplies and fend off the undead. However, a new online class seems to miss some of the vital lessons required to stay alive.

The course frames lessons on nutrition, social order, and the spread of infectious disease through the hit show The Walking Dead. But there doesn’t seem to be any room for teaching students how to actually kill the undead.

Starting the day after the season 4 premiere on Oct. 13, “Society, Science, Survival: Lessons from AMC’s The Walking Dead runs for eight weeks. University of California–Irvine faculty members will teach the AMC-licensed class, in which cast members will discuss their characters. 

Here are 5 critical, spoilery lessons that need to be in the course.

1) Aim for the head

Forget this when battling the undead and you’ll soon be lunch.

2) Keep up with your cardio

The 2009 film Zombieland has excellent advice for dealing with zombies. The most important of all is keeping fit.

3) Be careful who you trust

In season 3, we see a group taking refuge in a barricaded town. The trouble is, it’s run by a sociopathic monster called The Governor who’d happy watch zombies tear apart his rivals. He even kills his own people. In a world populated by the undead, keep your friends close, and your enemies far away.

4) Make friends with a survivalist

Any hardy band of survivors needs someone resourceful enough to keep them alive. The Walking Dead gang has Daryl, a hunter and skilled tracker, to find supplies and quickly dispatch the undead. He is also a witty fan favorite.

5) Be ruthless

The core group spent much of season 2 hunting for a missing child in the woods. Of course, the little girl eventually reappeared as one of the infected. The best thing to do when a kid goes missing for more than a couple of days is to assume the worst and move on, as harsh as that may seem. 

H/T TV Line | Screenshot via quietfireca/YouTube

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*First Published: Sep 5, 2013, 11:53 am CDT