[datricker]

I always wondered way anyone took it as a major. Perhaps the students want to have a marketable skill after university.

[sphinx]

I always wondered way anyone took it as a major.

Once upon a time, the answer would have been: (1) to learn to understand and appreciate the good, the true and the beautiful in order to become a better person and live a better, more fulfilling life; (2) to learn to read critically and analyze complex material; and (3) to learn to write well.

I suspect that such concerns are still found among some holdouts in college English Departments, but they are the exceptions, not the rule. If English is taught as a vehicle for deconstructing the common culture and indoctrinating students into a reductionist race/class/gender analytical straightjacket, undergraduates are correct to flee.

[alternatives?]

I always wondered way anyone took it as a major.

Some people used to use it to go into law. Had a relative do this but became a high school English teacher instead.

[Lisbon1940]

The marketable skill is writing ability.