Here's How a Harvard Professor Introduced 'Taylor Swift' as a New Subject For Students

Harvard University's upcoming English class focusing on the singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, titled Taylor Swift and Her World, is proving to be a massive hit among students, leading to an unprecedented expansion. Nearly 300 students have enrolled in the paper, which indicates the intriguing interest of the masses in understanding Swift's increasing fame among youngsters.

Stephanie Burt, the Harvard English professor who proposed the paper, tweeted, “If you live in the Boston/Providence metro, love Tay, and have qualifications or experience to teach a writing-intensive college course, my DMs are open,” indicating the high level of expertise required for the role. Many universities lately, like New York University, the University of Texas at Austin, and Stanford University, have incorporated pop culture icons such as Swift into their academic papers.

Stanford, for instance, is planning a course titled All Too Well (Ten Week Version), inspired by Swift's song All Too Well (Ten Minute Version). Additionally, Arizona State University has offered a psychology class focusing on Swift’s work. "We're going to be looking at how she has handled her own fame, her guarded political stance, and more," Burt explained to NBC10. Moreover, this academic interest in Swift's work is not limited to Harvard. The University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Florida are also joining the bandwagon. Berkeley plans to offer Artistry and Entrepreneurship: Taylor’s Version and the University of Florida's course description intriguingly begins with “... Ready for it?”—a nod to Swift’s song from the album Reputation.

Recently, a TikTok user named Jessica McLane shared insights into Swift's high school years, claiming to be a former classmate at Hendersonville High School in Tennessee. In her TikTok video, McLane asserted, "I went to the same high school as Taylor Swift; we grew up in the same town." She went on to provide context, stating, "In 2006, I’m a freshman in high school. Taylor is, I think, a junior. ‘Teardrops on My Guitar’ had just come out, I think, over the summer. Obviously, she got really big, and that’s the year that she left school and got homeschooled."

McLane shared that during this period, when Swift's fame was on the rise, the majority of her classmates held negative sentiments towards her, describing that they "hated her" as she became "super successful." Notably, McLane clarified that these were not just online sentiments but the feelings of friends who had been part of Swift's journey. McLane, in her TikTok videos, delved into the early career of Swift, her former high school classmate at Hendersonville High School in Tennessee. McLane addressed rumors that Swift's success was unearned, humorously commenting, "She was literally 16, 17, leaving high school to chase a dream that people said she couldn't achieve. And the guys she wrote songs about? They were still in school. They were the subjects of hit songs about being bad boyfriends."