John Green’s awesome vlog ‘Crash Course’ is coming to a classroom near you

John Green, extraordinary human, might be best known for his contributions to the literary world (and for making us cry). His weep-worthy novels like The Fault In Our Stars and Looking for Alaska are some of our absolute favorites, but Green is so much more than just a best-selling novelist. In fact, it appears that all Green wants to do is rid the world of “suck” and he’s well on his way to achieving that goal — his next stop, the classroom.

Starting in 2015, teachers all across the country will be able to use Green’s Crash Course web series as a teaching tool, all thanks to a new partnership with PBS Digital Studios. If you’ve never checked out a Crash Course before, you need to get on that stat. Green, along with his brother Hank, take 10-15 minutes of your time and and give you a crash course in a variety of different subjects. Think of it as millennial School House Rock: You’re going to learn something, and you’re going to enjoy it.

You might not have known it, but Green is a huge presence online. Way back in 2006, the Green brothers decided to stop texting for an entire year and communicate only through videos uploaded to their Brotherhood 2.0 YouTube channel. It was an instant hit, naturally, and earned them a mighty collection of diehard followers. After the conclusion of their year long experiment, they set up the next phase: Nerdfighters. Explaining the community, Green stated that it’s “a community that sprung up around our videos, and basically [Hank and I] just get together and try to do awesome things and have a good time and fight against world suck.” A truer mission statement has never been said. And it’s from Nerdfighters that Crash Course came to life.

So, what is your crash course in Crash Course? Basically, the two Green brothers just want us to learn and know as much as possible and have taught us a ton in over 247 episodes — and counting! The web series first launched in 2012 with with a course in World History (Green even recruited his old high school teacher, Raoul Meyer, who teaches AP World History at Indian Springs School). From there, they moved onto literature covering works like The Great Gatsby and authors like Emily Dickinson. Green sticks to his humanities studies, leaving the “science stuff” to his brother, Hank, who talks about ecology, chemistry, and psychology.

This all brings us to the big news that now Crash Course has partnered with PBS Digital Studios so students across the country can get these lessons right in their classroom, completely free of charge. With PBS, the Green brothers are going to release three, maybe four, new installments of Crash Course. They’re also calling in some friends for help — YouTube-er Craig Benzine will tackle a Crash Course in government, and blogger Phil Plai will take one in astronomy.  Hank is going to cover psychology. Green is actually taking a year long vacation from Crash Course, because I imagine he’s going to write another book (MAYBE? PLEASE? Also Green is currently busy with production of Paper Towns, his next book being adapted for the screen).

If you’re like me, and have already graduated from all schools, you can of course still check out Crash Course, and I suggest you do, because 1. They’re very well done. 2. They’re super informative. And 3. The Green brothers are hilarious.

For anyone out there just looking to get their feet wet, allow me to suggest any of the Crash Courses in literature because they are probably the least scary (I am still scared of chemistry). Check out Green’s Crash Course on The Great Gatsby (which has been viewed almost 1 million times!). Maybe it will inspire you to pick up the book, and at the very least it fulfills it’s promise to help rid the world of “suck.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xw9Au9OoN88?list=PL8dPuuaLjXtOeEc9ME62zTfqc0h6Pe8vb

Image via here.