Posted on 06/27/2022 7:43:22 AM PDT by Borges
A university has suspended its English literature course, after a Government crackdown on perceived "low value" degrees.
Sheffield Hallam University said that the core humanities subject is among the courses that will be suspended for the 2023/24 academic year, but did not clarify the reason behind the decision or say how long the suspension would last.
Dr Mary Peace, an English literature lecturer at the university, told The Telegraph that staff were informed of the decision five minutes before a departmental away day.
She said that she believes the rationale behind the decision was “largely economic”, and suggested that the decision was made over a poor job return for graduates amid expectations of students being in a “highly-skilled” job within six months.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
My brother has a number of acquaintances who got socialism degrees.
All they do now is complain how little they make and how retirement is going to be very tough.
I was an English major in 1972.
I found it very helpful in medical school.
I suspect you'd be surprised at how much the useless mouth breathers in various 'diversity' jobs at corporations make.
Back in the day, what was taught and how it was taught had value.
My first degree is in English. We were taught to read literature with the understanding of how the world was when it was written. We were taught and expected to think for ourselves and to express ourselves clearly. Regurgitating back lecture notes in a paper was not acceptable.
I ended up in a completely different field but I have never regretted the liberal arts education.
Back then, it gave you something to build on. I don’t think that’s the case today.
LOL, same for me. I didn't know about conjugating verbs in English until I took German in high school. Also, I was very fluent in Shakespeare's plays, and his sentence structure helped me with German.
My youngest received degrees in English and French. She’s going into her second year of law school. She is doing quite well, but she is not the norm.
One of my favorites is "critical thinking isn't a part of your vernacular, is it?"
Who majors in something like this?
https://www.neiu.edu/academics/college-of-arts-and-sciences/departments/justice-studies
What did you read in that class?
The loss to Western civilization of a wide awareness of its own culture isn't a good thing. IMHO.
As far as life skills go, one of the most valuable courses I had was a senior philosophy class. Of the 14 students in the class, 12 were philosophy or theology majors studying to be priests.
Our weekly routine was class on Tuesdays and Thursdays. At the end of Tuesday's class, our assignment for Thursday was "read this book", such as Wittgenstein, and prepare a two page, typewritten book report. It will be read in class, and be critiqued by your fellow students.
I was surprised by the A I received on my first paper, because I said the exact opposite of everyone else. The professor, one of the few Jesuits I had as professors, laughed and obliterated the veneer of "philosophy": he said, "with philosophy, it's not what you say, but how you say it. Philosophy is nothing but a bunch of BS."
I busted my tail in that class, spending 3-4 hours outside of class for every hour in class. I'm as proud of the B I earned, as any A I earned in other classes.
One of the guys I work with is married to a woman with a masters degree in English. She was a stay at home mom for 20+ years. Then she ran for school board and won. After two terms on the board she was offered a job as a the business manager for the school district reporting directly to Superintendent of the Schools making $120K/year. She is a big time Democrat though.
“ how to tell someone they’re a dumbazz in proper English“
Well that’s an important part of civilized behavior, isn’t it?
Western Civ.
America's public school systems are absolutely bloated bureaucracies. Its a good hiding place for all the liberal arts and woke-studies grads.
But separate from that, and to my original point - being able to speak and write well is critical for success in any field.
Better drop most majors.
This is the academic equivalent of tearing down statues of famous figures. It is destroying history and pride in one’s culture.
Of course, there won't be any teachers or historians or archaeologists (is that STEM?) or, well, lots of things our culture benefits from. Sure stuff like "black studies" is just pointless navel gazing but some other non-lucrative studies pay off in other ways.
Like you, I was a product of a Jesuit University. They insisted on a core of liberal arts courses. It was designed to make you familiar with the major trends of western civilization but being able to think and argue was an inherent part of the work - and it was always contrasted or integrated with Christian thought. Indeed, all western philosophy came and evolved from Christian beliefs as the foundation.
It may sound odd, I could only put philosophy in context, and study it more deeply, once I studied statistics. ie) what do we know, and what do we only think we know? In my world, I would make statistics a firm requirement for any philosophy degree!
English literature can be studied on an independent basis, and groups can be created to study it as a hobby
Economics majors are the top-performing LSAT test takers.
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