A Vision of the English Department
An odd thought struck me as someone pointed out that the reason English Departments had been split in to so many different disciplines was because of the nature of English to "gobble up" everything around it. After reading Parker and Berlin, I think I would side more with the Berlin approach to why and how English Departments exist. I don't necessarily disagree with the theory that English has the potential to "gobble up" its surrounding disciplines. However, I do think that English and rhetoric itself governs most, if not all, of the disciplines. Without rhetoric or English there would be a huge pile of knowledge at our fingertips, but no way to organize or to express that knowledge in a way that would contribute to the betterment of humanity. Now, I've obviously pigeonholed English into the English language and rhetoric when, as pointed out in class, it exists in other countries and cultures where it doesn't encompass Literature and Composition, but the actual language itself as a foreign or secondary language.
In my vision of what the English department is or what it does, I want to confine it within the realm of English as a liberal arts or rhetoric, not as ESL. That is very narrow, but I believe that the function of many English departments as of today are centered and focused on the teaching of writing and composing to a general mass of students who will ultimately need these skills in the job market. Berlin specifically points to socio-economic tensions affecting the way in which English departments are perceived and developed at any given point in time. English is dynamic in its teachings and fits to the time in which is immediate around it. In 2013, students who are not English majors are required to take Composition course to at least come in to contact with the writing and composing skills to better their job hunt after the university. This type of commercialization of higher education has been around for a while, although not forever. If, at this point in the history of time, we are using university to perpetuate a job market then I do think that the university ideal as a whole is off its rocker. However, if we can connect English Departments across disciplines we may be able to not only produce a potential work force, but well rounded humans in general. This is critical to the survivability and versatility of society and thought. Although I am idealistic in thinking that this type of system would work, I know that its application may be difficult if not impossible.
I think the idea that universities have ever existed within the modern sense in a way that does not fulfill an economic need (producing a set of people prepared to become part of a workforce) is a bit idealistic, and so I would not lament this "change" so much. Universities, like all other institutions, deal in exchanges, otherwise they could not possibly exist. I don't see higher education as having become "commercialized" so much as "diversified."
ReplyDeleteI also agree that departments in general need to operate in more cross-curricular fashions. I often brainstorm with my wife, who is a social psychologist, ideas for her research (and now mine). It is interesting how sometimes the principles of psychology can inform my study of literature, and (perhaps more surprisingly) how my insights into literature can spark an idea for her research.