History Main / CorrespondenceCourse

[[quoteright:350:[[{[Superman}} http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/corresp_6279.jpg]]]]

* These obviously exist in real life, although the choice of lessons tend to be a lot less colourful here. Famous distance schools include the Art Instruction School (see below) and the [[CharlesAtlasSuperpower Charles Atlas]] exercise routine. Nowadays, a lot of them are available online.

* ''Monk'' took a correspondence course in swimming.

* ''TheGreatMuppetCaper'': "Where did you learn to drive?" "I took a correspondence course."
** They used the same joke in ''TheMuppetMovie''.

* [[WelcomeToCorneria Insignificant communications]] in ''Vega Strike'' include among other insults this (Privateer to Pirate set):
--> "So, flying license by correspondence course, I see."

* These obviously exist in real life, although the choice of lessons tend to be a lot less colourful here. Famous distance schools include the Art Instruction School (see below) and the [[CharlesAtlasSuperpower Charles Atlas]] exercise routine.

* A major plot point in ''BedknobsAndBroomsticks'': Eglantine learns all her magic from a correspondence course, but the school folds before she can learn the final and most important spell. During the first half of the movie, she hunts down the headmaster, Professor Emelius Browne, who, it turns out, doesn't know magic at all (and more importantly, ''doesn't know the final spell.'' The ''second'' half of the movie is spent recovering it and then using it against the Nazis).

* In ''HarryPotter'', Filch is a Squib (non-wizard) who attempts to learn magic by following a correspondence course. Because of the nature of magic in the HP world, we know it's a fraud, but it's all played for laughs.

* A major plot point in ''BedknobsAndBroomsticks'': Eglantine learns all her magic from a correspondence course, but the school folds before she can learn the final and most important spell. During the first half of the movie, she hunts down the headmaster, Professor Emelius Browne, who, it turns out, doesn't know magic at all.
** More importantly, ''he doesn't know the final spell.'' The ''second'' half of the movie is sent recovering it and then using it against the Nazis.

* In an early episode of ''[=~M* A* S* H~=]'', Radar was taking a creative writing correspondence course.

[[AC:RealLife]]
* Charles Schulz, the creator of ''{{Peanuts}}'', took an art course from [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Instruction_Schools Art Instruction School]].

Due to the distant and anonymous nature of these schools, they tend to be less than scrupulous; some may well be outright frauds. But every once in a while (well, more often in fictionland), the heroes discover a correspondence course that actually works-- usually to the amazement of the professor teaching the course.

* In the ''RivalSchools'' games, the nameless class rep learned Dan Hibiki's infamous Saikyo style through correspondence courses.

One step above ''"Do-It-Yourself for Dummies"'' but a long, cavernous leap below an actual education is the Correspondence School, an educational institute that forwards all its courses by mail.

Course offerings are many and varied. You'll be amazed by what you can learn by mail-- [[BedknobsAndBroomsticks magic]], [[QuestForGlory hero training]], [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking how to talk to girls]]... everything you could possibly want to know and more, all for the price of postage!

* In an early episode of ''[=~M* A* S* H~=]'', Radar was taking a creative writing correspondence course.

* This was used in the live action adaption of the ''{{Discworld}}'' novel, ''{{TheColourOfMagic}}'', to close a plothole in the source material. In the book, the tourist Twoflower initially struggles to communicate using a phrasebook, but after that scene has no problem understanding and being understood by others. In the film, it's [[HandWave Hand Waved]] by saying he learned the local language through a correspondence course, and was only using the phrasebook for CloudCuckooLander reasons.

[[AC:Comics]]

* DonaldDuck's cousin Fethry swears by various correspondant courses and often shows up at Donald's house in order to either practice his newly-acquired skills on a "volunteer" or convince Donald to start a business with him based on whatever he's been taking a course on. [[{{HilarityEnsues}} The results are predictable]]. One comic revealed that apparently the "university" responsible for the courses advertises on the back of a cereal box, so we can probably conclude it is not exactly a highly respected institution.

* A major plot point in ''BedknobsAndBroomsticks'': Eglantine learns all her magic from a correspondence course, but the school folds before she can learn the final and most important spell. The first half of the movie is spent hunting down the headmaster, Professor Emelius Browne, who it turns out doesn't know magic at all.

-->Sally Elliot: "It only took you a year to finish that correspondence course."
-->Humphrey Briggs: "Yeah, but that was a six month course."

-->Clifford Wooley: "I had a... hankerin' to be an actor when I was a young feller when I got out of the Coast Guard, but I... I went to taxidermy school instead... well, I took a correspondence course."

* In the absurdist song "Yo-Ya" by the Israeli rock group Poogy, a man takes a correspondence course in swimming from a "famous lifeguard." When he finally enters the water, he immediately [[TooDumbToLive drowns]].

* The ''{{Discworld}}'' novel ''{{Discworld/Sourcery}}'' features a young man named Nijel who's taking a correspondence course in being a barbarian hero.
* In [[PGWodehouse P.G. Wodehouse]]'s short story, "A Voice From The Past," Sacheverall Mulliner becomes a domineering Strong Man by taking a correspondance course on [[strike:scientific agriculture]] developing an Iron Will.

* In an early episode of ''{{MASH}}'' Radar was taking a creative writing correspondence course.
* In ''TheSecretWorldOfAlexMack'', Dave gets ADayInTheLimelight of sorts when he takes a "How To Be A Spy" course on tape to find out Alex's identity. [[spoiler:Amazingly enough, he succeeds, but decides to keep it a secret in agreement with the course's final lesson: "If you discover a secret, no matter how big it is, it's best to keep it for yourself" (which if you think about it, goes against the very purpose of working as a spy)]]

* In ''CommandAndConquer: Generals'', if you defeat [[MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate Dr. Thrax]] in the Generals Challenge, he'll say "[[CrowningMomentOfFunny Erm, perhaps I shouldn't have goten my degree from a mail-order college]]."

* In DanAndMabsFurryAdventures Wildy becomes a shaman though one of these. [[http://www.missmab.com/Comics/Vol_162.php Link]].

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