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Post by rogerbuck on Jul 3, 2022 16:04:43 GMT
This horrifies me, truly horrifies me. And note it's in England, not America. Pasting some bits with some bolding by me: Is this The End for English Lit degrees?[ . . .] A UK University has suspended its English literature course for the 2023/24 academic year, following a government crackdown on so-called “low-value” degrees.Sheffield Hallam have not yet explained their rationale behind the decision, but Dr Pearce believes the university have axed the course for “largely economic” reasons [ . . .] A recent survey found that English Literature was one of the worst-paying degrees in 2022, with graduates earning an average of £26,461.“Humanities students either take a long time to get into conventional jobs or never reach the threshold where they have to pay back their loans – particularly those from less privileged social backgrounds,” [ . . .] Many have criticised the decision on Twitter. “My English Literature degree isn’t just about ‘reading books’ it’s anthropology, politics, history, fine art, gender studies, critical-race theory, linguistics, psychology, all rolled into one. English Lit is the groundwork for humanity, if it dies then we are in big trouble,” one user wrote. Indeed. BiG trouble. Link to full article: www.dazeddigital.com/life-culture/article/56424/1/a-uk-university-is-axing-their-english-literature-course-sheffield-hallam |
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Post by rogerbuck on Jul 3, 2022 16:10:50 GMT
It is not often that I feel so upset that I want to vent on the internet.
I am trying to bite my tongue.
But the Americanisation of England such that education has been turned into a business is costing our culture dearly.
And this is partly why I do have difficult feelings around American Capitalism.
Britain and Ireland are, for obvious reasons, the most Americanised places in Europe.
This would be totally unimaginable in France.
I hope my rant does not upset anyone.
But it helps explain the way I see things about America vs Europe that may be of some use to those who do not easily understand me on this topic.
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Post by Maolsheachlann on Jul 4, 2022 9:56:02 GMT
It is not often that I feel so upset that I want to vent on the internet. I am trying to bite my tongue. But the Americanisation of England such that education has been turned into a business is costing our culture dearly. And this is partly why I do have difficult feelings around American Capitalism. Britain and Ireland are, for obvious reasons, the most Americanised places in Europe. This would be totally unimaginable in France. I hope my rant does not upset anyone. But it helps explain the way I see things about America vs Europe that may be of some use to those who do not easily understand me on this topic. I must admit I have mixed feelings. I don't want the liberal arts and humanities to disappear from higher education. But I see little sign of that actually happening. Having worked in a university my entire working life, I don't have any illusions about English literature courses. They are heavily focused on identity politics and grievance-mongering, as is very clear to me from the English literary criticism books that pass across the issue desk, and indeed from my own experience. I started an evening degree in English in UCD but had to stop because I found it so depressing. Poetry is the subject that interests me most in the whole world, probably, and I remember sitting through a poetry lecture so boring that I felt a sort of desperation, like I couldn't breathe. I very vividly remember that. That was a particular low point but the other lectures and tutorials were not much better. On the other hand, I think it's better to have even bad English departments than no English departments, bad humanities departments than no humanities departments. At my most cynical, I think: "It's better than someone should be writing pretentious trash about Tracey Emin and bell hooks than marketing yoghurt." But I also understand what the UK government is doing here. After all, most people DO go to college or university hoping to improve their career prospects. I don't think there's anything terrible about that. I do think the onus should be on third-level institutions to give degrees that are going to do this, especially if people are incurring a lot of debt. |
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Post by rogerbuck on Aug 13, 2022 22:08:30 GMT
It is not often that I feel so upset that I want to vent on the internet. I am trying to bite my tongue. But the Americanisation of England such that education has been turned into a business is costing our culture dearly. And this is partly why I do have difficult feelings around American Capitalism. Britain and Ireland are, for obvious reasons, the most Americanised places in Europe. This would be totally unimaginable in France. I hope my rant does not upset anyone. But it helps explain the way I see things about America vs Europe that may be of some use to those who do not easily understand me on this topic. I must admit I have mixed feelings. I don't want the liberal arts and humanities to disappear from higher education. But I see little sign of that actually happening. Having worked in a university my entire working life, I don't have any illusions about English literature courses. They are heavily focused on identity politics and grievance-mongering, as is very clear to me from the English literary criticism books that pass across the issue desk, and indeed from my own experience. I started an evening degree in English in UCD but had to stop because I found it so depressing. Poetry is the subject that interests me most in the whole world, probably, and I remember sitting through a poetry lecture so boring that I felt a sort of desperation, like I couldn't breathe. I very vividly remember that. That was a particular low point but the other lectures and tutorials were not much better. On the other hand, I think it's better to have even bad English departments than no English departments, bad humanities departments than no humanities departments. At my most cynical, I think: "It's better than someone should be writing pretentious trash about Tracey Emin and bell hooks than marketing yoghurt." But I also understand what the UK government is doing here. After all, most people DO go to college or university hoping to improve their career prospects. I don't think there's anything terrible about that. I do think the onus should be on third-level institutions to give degrees that are going to do this, especially if people are incurring a lot of debt. Thank you, Mal for this most illumining, albeit disturbing, response. To begin on a note of disagreement, I have no mixed feelings from reading your words - only horror doubled. For your last sentence is at the crux of the whole problem for me, particularly the bit about "especially if people are incurring a lot of debt." I am very, very disturbed about the American impulse to turn university into big business — with the result of not only debt slavery, but reducing culture to business opportunities! And although I can't say I know much about the American scene, I hear from Michael Martin, both a fellow author of ours at Angelico and a university lecturer, that the Humanities in America are very much under threat. He gives a very dismal picture for 20 years down the road. Of course, I don't know that he's right. But he certainly knows far more than I do about this. And I cannot help but fear Britain will eventually follow. So I horror is unmitigated by you identifying what I see as the very root of the problem here: Treating education as another Capitalist opportunity in a free market . . . But on a note of accord with you, you have indeed educated me as to why I ought to be more horrified by the humanities as they stand, at least in Dublin: I hear the vividness of your suffocation. What materialistic Capitalism doesn't suffocate, materialistic analysis and Wokeism will. Horrible, just horrible but again most illumining . . . Grateful to have my naivety corrected. |
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Post by Tomas on Dec 21, 2022 7:53:52 GMT
In my native Sweden the realities in so called higher education, in humanities, has been down that road for well over 3+ decades. Low level courses and no much gain, that is either way - both from an intellectual and economical point of view. Still as Maolsheachlann were on to, it ought to be better having some education rather than none at all, even under quite dire literary conditions. Contribution here is a comment from someone deeply engaged in this whole well of knowledge and evergreen value. Poetry-loving Londoner (or perhaps one say ex-Londoner) Ferdi McDermott, who was writing this on the "uses" for classic liberal education in general, is since many years living in France where he is head master of the beautiful Chavagnes International College, a real Catholic boarding school in the old sense. mcdermottsmiscellany.blogspot.com/2020/08/why-we-should-be-teaching-like-socates.html?fbclid=IwAR3XcbmKT2-G2yCvNTx_XRqja7yFrEsn6HqStS3k_nxF5ZKdeYBPHTzRm2Y |
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