Report: diversification, politics hurting English

Shakespeare, Chaucer, Keats — all playwrights, authors and poets studied for decades in English departments nationwide.

But as literature offerings diversify, a new report claims restructured English degree requirements and the increased politicization of its professors are hurting the major.

Jay Schalin, author of the Pope Center report, pointed to mandatory classes on British and American literature that were required in the 1980s at UNC-Chapel Hill. They are now part of a diverse set of classes that satisfy certain period requirements — like Renaissance Women Writers or African American Literature to 1930 — which Schalin argues diminishes the degree.

“It used to be that you tried to understand what the author was getting at at the time he was writing,” he said. “Today it’s more like, ‘Well what does this author have to say about today’s issues?’”

But Beverly Taylor, chairwoman of UNC’s English department, said students have argued for more diverse class selections because they were already immersed in foundational courses throughout their secondary education.

“We want all of you students to have the opportunity to be intelligent readers of various kinds of media,” she said. “We have not abandoned the canon that Mr. Schalin is talking about.”

She said the English department’s transformation began in the 1960s when academics called for a more dissimilar set of literary works.

“It didn’t include many works by women for example, though I think we’re an important segment of the human race,” Taylor said.

She said the voices of African-Americans and Hispanics were also often left out.

UNC has branched out to include these previously ignored authors, but most historically black colleges and universities require at least five courses on the traditional canons. Most larger state schools require only two or three.

Kip Branch, an associate professor in Elizabeth City State University’s Department of Language, Literature and Communication, said the traditional approach is important.

“Most of the public school systems where students from HBCUs come from are in such shambles,” he said. “I don’t think they get the training the majority of students did.”

But Leonard Muaka, chairman of the English department at Winston-Salem State University, said literature lends itself to talking about gender relationships and politics.

“We have to look at it both as a discipline of study as well as a vehicle of which we can understand what happens in society,” he said.

Schalin said three quarters of all UNC-system English professors are Democrats — a fact professors claim has no bearing on teaching methods. But Schalin believes this has pushed curricula away from traditional canons.

“Activism has no place in the classroom,” he said. “You do not pay your tuition to have a teacher try to indoctrinate your way of thinking.”

But Taylor said professors limit their political views to the ballot box.

Still, Schalin said he believes UNC-CH’s English department is not challenging student’s ideals.

“It is still possible at Chapel Hill to get an outstanding English education,” he said. “But you have to cherry pick your professors and your courses.”

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