History Main / CorrespondenceCourse

** ''Discworld/{{Sourcery}}'' features a young man named Nijel who's taking a correspondence course in being a barbarian hero, allegedly written by Cohen the Barbarian himself (and implied to be written by one [[HonestJohnsDealership Cut-Me-Own-Throat Dibbler]]).
** In ''Discworld/WitchesAbroad'', Magrat is learning martial arts through mail-order courses sold by "Grand Master Lobsang Dibbler".

* [[Literature/TheDresdenFiles Harry Dresden]] at one point took a correspondence course in Latin, the language wherein official White Council meetings are conducted. It was... less than successful.

** Actually, [[http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Kwikspell Kwikspell]] (that's its name) is not a fraud, but geared to mages with trouble using their magic, not squibs. Mages are said to have a high degree of satisfaction; squibs cannot because they do not have magic.

Due to the distant and anonymous nature of these schools, quality varies wildly. 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 it!

** In an ''Literature/{{Ukride}}'' story, "The Long Arm of Looney Coote", the narrator writes that the speaker at a political meeting apparently "learned his elocution in one of those correspondence schools which teach it by mail."

** In an Ukride story, "The Long Arm of Looney Coote", the narrator writes that the speaker at a political meeting apparently "learned his elocution in one of those correspondence schools which teach it by mail."

[[folder:Anime]]
* ''Manga/AhMyGoddess'' once featured an exorcist named Shiho who was learning exorcism from a correspondence course.

[[folder:ComicBooks]]
* One of the ''SuperMarioBros'' comics had Toad become a reporter via one of these. Wooster, in something of a DeadpanSnarker moment, points out that the entire curriculum consisted of sending them a check.
* One ''Aniceto'' comic book story has the titular brujo awaken an ancient Egyptian mummy...which speaks fluent Mexican-dialect Spanish. When asked how "Simple. [[VoodooShark I took a correspondence course.]]"

* ComicBook/{{Superman}} exposed the crooked correspondence school depicted in the trope image. Naturally, the plan for catching these ordinary criminals involved Clark Kent engaging in art forgery, TimeTravel, and Superman unwittingly providing the inspiration for masterpieces by Rembrandt and William Gainsborough. [[http:/www.davidmorefield.com/superman/adventures/superartist.html Oh, comics...]]

[[folder:Film]]

* Both ''Film/TheMuppetMovie'' and ''Film/TheGreatMuppetCaper'' feature this exchange:
-->"Where did you learn to drive?"\\
"I took a correspondence course."

-->'''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.

* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}''

[[folder:LiveActionTV]]

[[folder:VideoGames]]
* The hero's backstory in ''VideoGame/QuestForGlory'' is that he saw an ad for the "Famous Adventurers' Correspondence School" in his town and decided to take it. Persons who pass the course receive a [[SuperheroesWearCapes heroic cloak]] and tools related to their class (lockpick kit for a thief, sword, and shield for a fighter, magic spells for a wizard). You lose the cloak in later games, but the correspondence school is constantly brought up. You actually visit its headquarters in the final game: the guy who runs it is the ''only'' guy in the company, and he's forgotten his name, going by Famous Adventurer. He's not at all surprised that the correspondence course works (after all, that's why he wrote those books), and he's actually pretty impressed with your heroic tales if you tell him about them.
** The Famous Adventurers' Correspondence School was actually {{Defictionaliz|ation}}ed by the series creators, launched as [[http://www.theschoolforheroes.com/school.php The School for Heroes]].

-->'''Privateer''' to '''Pirate''': So, flying license by correspondence course, I see.

* As you 'Make Your Name' as a monster-hunter and shunter of thugs in VideoGame/FallenLondon, people will ask how you got so good at being a killing machine. You can tell them that you're one of the many success stories of 'The Adventuress' Correspondence Course', apparently set up by The Presbyterate Adventuress, a famous soldier, explorer, and mercenary. Given the kind of insane feats of strength and skill you accomplish in the game, her course must have been effective.

[[folder:Webcomics]]

[[folder:WebOriginal]]
* Fairly popular at [[SuperheroSchool Whateley Academy]] in the Literature/WhateleyUniverse, since a lot of the students look too weird to be out taking regular courses, and at least one student may never be able to leave her room again without being a biohazard threat for everyone around her. Then there's Timeless, who simply doesn't sleep anymore and needs something to fill in the hours.

[[folder:WesternAnimation]]
* Dr. Zoidberg from ''{{WesternAnimation/Futurama}}'' once claimed to have taken correspondence courses on Murderology and Murderonomy.

[[folder:RealLife]]

** In the United States, MIT has it's [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIT_OpenCourseWare OpenCourseWare]] project, the goal of which is to make all of the school's graduate and undergraduate offerings available online. The program was the first of its kind and has since been copied by many other institutions.

[[quoteright:350:[[Franchise/{{Superman}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/corresp_6279.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Standard business practice for the less scrupulous correspondence courses.]]

* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_university The Open University]] subverts most expectations by being one of the UK's largest and most well-respected universities (no UsefulNotes/{{Oxbridge}}, but far from embarrassing either).

* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_university The Open University]] subverts most expectations by being one of the UK's largest and most well-respected universities (no {{Oxbridge}}, but far from embarrassing either).

* A few decades ago, before the Internet was widely available to residential homes, it was not uncommon for these types of classes to be held via a UsefulNotes/PEGChannel. Some places (generally remote, rural areas) still do this. In Britain, the BBC carried programming from the aforementioned Open University up until well into the Internet Age, often in late night and early morning slots on the assumption that they'd be recorded by VCR. Preserved examples can be found on YouTube.

* A few decades ago, before the Internet was widely available to residential homes, it was not uncommon for these types of classes to be held via a UsefulNotes/PEGChannel. Some places (generally remote, rural areas) still do this.

* As you 'Make Your Name' as a monster-hunter and shunter of thugs in VideoGame/FallenLondon, people will ask how you got so good at being a killing machine. You can tell them that your one of the many success stories of 'The Adventuress' Correspondence Course', apparently set up by The Presbyterate Adventuress, a famous soldier, explorer, and mercenary. Given the kind of insane feats of strength and skill you accomplish in the game, her course must have been effective.

One step above ''"Do-It-Yourself ForDummies"'' but a long, cavernous leap below an actual education (at least in Trope Land) is the Correspondence School, an educational institute that forwards all its courses by mail.

* ComicBook/{{Superman}} exposed the crooked correspondence school depicted in the trope image. Naturally, the plan for catching these ordinary criminals involved Clark Kent engaging in art forgery, TimeTravel, and Superman unwittingly providing the inspiration for masterpieces by Rembrandt and William Gainsborough. [[www.davidmorefield.com/superman/adventures/superartist.html Oh, comics...]]

* ComicBook/{{Superman}} exposed the crooked correspondence school depicted in the trope image. Naturally, the plan for catching these ordinary criminals involved Clark Kent engaging in art forgery, TimeTravel, and Superman unwittingly providing the inspiration for masterpieces by Rembrandt and William Gainsborough. [[davidmorefield.com/superman/adventures/superartist.html Oh, comics...]]

A more modern version of this are online courses, which replace the mailed lessons by lessons downloaded from a website. Now that every major university has a distance education department, simply saying that somebody got a degree online isn't enough; modern examples drive the point home by giving the school a shady name like "Cayman Islands Internet University".

* One ''Aniceto'' comic book story has the titular brujo awaken an ancient Egyptian mummy...which speaks fluent Mexican-dialect Spanish. When asked how, "Simple. [[VoodooShark I took a correspondence course.]]"

* ComicBook/{{Superman}} exposed the crooked correspondence school depicted in the trope image. Naturally, the plan for catching these ordinary criminals involved Clark Kent engaging in art forgery, TimeTravel, and Superman unwittingly providing the inspiration for masterpieces by Rembrandt and William Gainsborough. [[http://supermanfan.nu/main/?p=1905 Oh, comics...]]

* In Creator/PGWodehouse's short story "A Voice from the Past", Sacheverall Mulliner becomes a domineering Strong Man by taking a correspondence course on [[strike:scientific agriculture]] developing an Iron Will.

* ''Radio/TheBurkissWay'' started out as a "correspondence course" administered by the good Dr Emil Burkiss, who would, for instance, help you develop a muscular body by lifting up all that heavy money and sending it to him. While the later series abandoned this premise, they still had titles on a theme of ''Avoid Like the Plague, The Burkiss Way''

* The hero's backstory in ''VideoGame/QuestForGlory'' is that he saw an ad for the "Famous Adventurers' Correspondence School" in his town and decided to take it. Persons who pass the course receive a [[SuperheroesWearCapes heroic cloak]] and tools related to their class (lockpick kit for a thief, sword and shield for a fighter, magic spells for a wizard). You lose the cloak in later games, but the correspondence school is constantly brought up. You actually visit its headquarters in the final game: the guy who runs it is the ''only'' guy in the company, and he's forgotten his name, going by Famous Adventurer. He's not at all surprised that the correspondence course works (after all, that's why he wrote those books), and he's actually pretty impressed with your heroic tales if you tell him about them.

* In ''VideoGame/ArcanumOfSteamworksAndMagickObscura''. technology degrees and skills are developed through correspondence courses with Tarant Polytechnical University. These are legit courses that provide both basic technological know-how in the relevant discipline and practical schematics for ItemCrafting. After all, the adventurers of tomorrow can't just sit around the university all day when there's dungeons to delve!

* 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 {{Charles Atlas|Superpower}} exercise routine. Nowadays, a lot of them are available online. Chances are this page's ads are of them.

* Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield took an ice cream-making correspondence course from the Penn State Creamery which enabled them to start their ice cream business.
* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_university The Open University]] subverts most expectations by being one of the UK's largest and most well respected universities (no {{Oxbridge}}, but far from embarrassing either).
** In the United States, MIT has its [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIT_OpenCourseWare OpenCourseWare]] project, the goal of which is to make all of the school's graduate and undergraduate offerings available online. The program was the first of its kind and has since been copied by many other institutions.

* In the Lynda Carter episode of ''Series/TheMuppetShow'', most of the Muppets decide to become superheroes by buying such a course on becoming a superhero. The package comes with a costume and book titled "Invincibility Made Easy", which is filled with nonsense advice on how to perform acts of superhuman ability, none of which work.

* ''VideoGame/VegaStrike'' [[WelcomeToCorneria stock communications]] include this as one of [[IShallTauntYou taunts]]:
-->''Privateer''' to '''Pirate''': So, flying license by correspondence course, I see.

* The ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' novel ''Discworld/{{Sourcery}}'' features a young man named Nijel who's taking a correspondence course in being a barbarian hero.

* Fairly popular at [[SuperheroSchool Whateley Academy]] in the WhateleyUniverse, since a lot of the students look too weird to be out taking regular courses, and at least one student may never be able to leave her room again without being a biohazard threat for everyone around her. Then there's Timeless, who simply doesn't sleep anymore and needs something to fill in the hours.

* The titular character in Jean Robinson's ''The Strange But Wonderful Cosmic Awareness of Duffy Moon'' attempts to make up for his perceived shortcomings by taking "Dr. Louis Flamel's Home Study Course in Cosmic Awareness". Due much more to his can-do nature and knowledge of gardening than to the course, he actually manages to start his own plant-service business and gain the respect of his aunt and uncle and the other kids in the neighborhood.

* ''Radio/TheBurkissWay'' started out as a "correspondence course" administered by the good Dr Emil Burkiss, who would, for instance, help you develop a muscular body by lifting up all that heavy money and sending it to him. While the later series abandoned this premis, they still had titles on a theme of ''Avoid Like the Plague, The Burkiss Way''