Comments on Reassigned Time: Why Are the Humanities Oversupplied?

That whole devaluing the humanities thing drives m...

2008-09-09T06:47:00.000-04:00

That whole devaluing the humanities thing drives me crazy. Even at my SLAC, that's apparent. There's a gap in money to departments, so that the humanities faculty can't buy simple things like computers.

Anyway, interestingly, what's really devalued here is writing. Almost all the classes are done by adjuncts. It's interesting because at many institutions, even though many comp classes are taught by grad students, the teaching of writing has become more valued and more professionalized.

I also wonder if we're not over supplied but way under demand.

I want to print this post out, require all of my s...

2008-09-08T23:36:00.000-04:00

I want to print this post out, require all of my students to read it, send it out with my holiday cards, post it on every flat surface, and mail it to the president. THANK YOU!

Great concluding bit--another post I wish I could ...

2008-09-08T20:42:00.000-04:00

Great concluding bit--another post I wish I could print and copy and send out to (some of) our faculty and admin!

But, issues of your anonymity and intellectual property aside, I'm afraid of someone tracking me down via the blogroll. :)

Always happy to help, Artemis :) Righteous indign...

2008-09-08T19:21:00.000-04:00

Always happy to help, Artemis :) Righteous indignation is one of my specialties :)

Wow, thx for reading the "debate" and responding t...

2008-09-08T15:20:00.000-04:00

Wow, thx for reading the "debate" and responding to it for me. As one of those English grads getting one of those easy PhDs, I don't think I could have come across that thread without screaming.

Flavia, Thanks for that clarification - I complet...

2008-09-08T14:44:00.000-04:00

Flavia,
Thanks for that clarification - I completely agree with you, but just didn't flesh that whole part of things out :)

Great post, Crazy. One thing:It is not true that y...

2008-09-08T14:37:00.000-04:00

Great post, Crazy. One thing:

It is not true that you can't get a real-world job with a BA in English. . . but it is true that whatever job you might get with that BA probably won't allow you to write research papers or to read and study literature. . . . [W]hat if you really want to do something with your degree that allows you to develop those skills that you've excelled at even further? What if you are passionate about the subject and you want to think about it more deeply?

I don't disagree with this, and I think that this is a perfectly reasonable reason to go to grad school (it's why I went!). But a problem I see is that many students who excel at these things don't understand how they could have a rich and meaningful life, one that still involves reading and writing in some way, OUTSIDE of academia (and alongside a "normal" job--one that isn't obviously tied to an English degree in the way that high school teaching, journalism, and publishing are). And their faculty advisors themselves often can't imagine such a course, unless they or their close friends have led it, and so some students wind up thinking that the ONLY thing they can do if they like reading and writing and textual analysis is go to grad school.

This concerns me.