FOOTNOTE ACADEMY™

School of Applied Obviousness. Higher education in the obvious. Tuition: none. Accreditation: none.

Footnote the cat and Frank in graduation caps at the Academy

Welcome to the Academy

Welcome to FOOTNOTE Academy. Your enrollment has been processed. Orientation was completed on your behalf. Please locate the nearest yellow line and stand near it. Attendance is not taken. The Registrar considers the matter closed.

Where were you the last time nobody took attendance‽

Hector points at you: We want you for FOOTNOTE Academy. Footnote looks unimpressed. Learn more. — Learn more about the Modules →

Earn your Certificate in Applied Obviousness

Fully online. At your own pace. Start with a published story.

Tuition: $0.
Application fee: $0. There is no application. You are already enrolled.
Pace: One Module a week, or one Module a year. The strips will wait.
Format: Fully online. One strip, one story, three questions. Phone friendly. No login.
Time to finish: 4 Modules for a Certificate of Completion. 8 for an Advanced Certificate in Applied Obviousness.
Accreditation: None. Licensed by nobody. Recognized by the cat.
Transfers: Accepted nowhere. Offered everywhere.

FOOTNOTE Academy. Est. 1929 by Standard Provision. Accreditation: none.

About the Academy

FOOTNOTE Academy is the School of Applied Obviousness, ostensibly founded in 1929 and unaccredited ever since. Tuition: none. Faculty: a Registrar, a Chancellor and a cat. Each Module is one story and three questions. Completion is recorded. Understanding is optional.

What did your last orientation teach you‽

Our motto

Certificamus Obvium. We certify the obvious.

Each Module consists of one FOOTNOTE comic, its companion story and three questions. Read the story. Examine the evidence. Select one answer to each question.

Some answers sound sensible. Others sound like the last meeting you attended. The Academy recommends looking twice before committing either to the record.

A Short History

Ostensibly founded in 1929, a year chosen because it sounded settled. The Academy began as one chalkboard in the break room of Standard Provision Hot Dog Company, where somebody wrote the rule for the yellow line and nobody wrote down why. The chalkboard was promoted to a Department. In 2026 the Department appointed Hector, head of HR, Registrar. His first act was to register the chalkboard. The Chancellor, B.E. Bailey, was appointed later, by the Chancellor.

A black cat named Footnote attended the founding, took no notes and still knows where everything is, so he was made Mascot. Accreditation was sought in 1931 and found to be unnecessary, then unavailable, then both. The Academy remains unaccredited by anyone and calls this independence. Enrollment is automatic. Graduation is optional. Nobody has ever asked to see the records, and they are kept accordingly.

Which of your rules has a founding year but no founder‽

Academy leadership

Cartoon portrait of Brad the Chancellor — **Brad the Chancellor.**
Appointed by a unanimous vote of himself.

Cartoon portrait of Hector, Registrar — **Hector, head of HR and Registrar.**
Your enrollment paperwork has already been filed.

Program 1: Applied Obviousness

Every Module is tied to a FOOTNOTE comic and its companion story. Modules come online only as their comics and stories are published. Read the published story and comic before taking its Module. Upcoming Modules are shown below, but cannot be taken or completed yet.

Course 1: Introduction to the Obvious, Modules 1 to 4. Course 2: Applied Common Sense, Modules 5 to 8. Each Module is worth 1 hour of obviousness and 0 to 9 points.

Take Module 1

Your transcript

After reading a published issue and completing its Module, enter your score (0 to 9) here. Upcoming Modules stay locked until their comic and story are published. Take Module 1 on its page and it fills in automatically. Your record stays in this browser. Copy the progress code to keep it.

Credentials

Certificate of Completion: Course 1: Introduction to the Obvious. Modules 1 to 4. Four hours of obviousness.
Advanced Certificate in Applied Obviousness: Modules 1 to 8, with Hector's Annual Academic Review. Eight hours of obviousness.

Back to the strip

Back to FOOTNOTE 1: The Line on the Floor

Fine print

FOOTNOTE ACADEMY™ is a fictional satirical training program published by The Interrobang. It is not a school, college, university, accrediting body, certification body, or provider of academic or continuing-education credit. Its hours, ratings, certificates and titles have no academic, professional, licensing or employment value. No accounts. Nothing you enter leaves this page.

Still here? Subscribe to The Interrobang. Tuition remains none. Subscribing is not required for graduation, which is also not required.