Why English Departments?Why English Departments?

Dr. Fred KempTexas Tech University

5060, Fall 2011

Turmoil in American Higher Education (1860+)This was a period in which the whole structure of higher education in America underwent profound changes, yielding to the pressures of new learning, the elective system, increased specialization, acceptance of the idea that practical or useful courses had a place in higher education, and, not least in importance, the actual doubling of college enrollments during the last quarter of the century. So long as there had been a narrow, prescribed curriculum and not too many students, departments of instruction had little or no administrative significance, and although the word "department" was sometimes used earlier, it was not really until the 1890’s… that departments became important administrative units, pigeon-holes into which one dropped all the elements of a rapidly expanding curriculum.” (12)

Turmoil in American Higher Education (1860+)“English departments became the catchall for the work of teachers of extremely diverse interests and training, united theoretically but not actually by their common use of the mother tongue. Disintegration was therefore inevitable. Since there was no diminishing of the various forces that caused the original creation of departmental structure in colleges of arts and sciences, splintering of departments eventually ensued, often with great bitterness and an unhealthy increase in competitive spirit.” (13)

What ARE English departments?

• A “relatively new” (1860+) consortium of many prior disciplines pressed into the department format.– Rhetoric and Oratory– Philology– Literary Criticism– Linguistics– Composition– Creative Writing

What ARE English departments?

• A “relatively new” (1870+) consortium of many prior disciplines pressed into the department format.– Rhetoric and Oratory– Philology– Literary Criticism– Linguistics– Composition– Creative Writing

These different areas of study represent considerably different views on language itself, on art, and on scholarship.

What ARE English departments?

• A “relatively new” (1870+) consortium of many prior disciplines pressed into the department format.– Rhetoric and Oratory– Philology– Literary Criticism– Linguistics– Composition– Creative Writing

“our profession as teachers is still wrestling strenuously and confusedly with initial problems that mass education has suddenly and greatly aggravated. “(6)

Why Composition?“It was the teaching of freshman composition that quickly entrenched English departments in the college and university structure-so much so that no one seemed to mind when professors of English, once freed from this slave labor, became as remote from everyday affairs as the classicists had ever been. To the best of my knowledge, no one has ever shown why it is more ‘useful’ to know Anglo Saxon than to know Latin, or educationally more valuable to know English literature than to know Greek literature; and, in my considered judgment, either would be a very difficult case to make. But no one needs to persuade the American public that freshman composition is essential, despite the fact that it rarely accomplishes any of its announced objectives.” (12)

So, What Was English Supposed to Be?

“Thanks first to its academic origins, and then to the spirit of competition and aggressiveness engendered by departmentalization, ‘English’ has never really defined itself as a discipline. Before 1883, as we have seen, it was associated chaotically with rhetoric, logic, history, and many another definable subject…. The typical English teacher in the 1890's and later no longer had a multi-title; but he belonged to a department that had multi-purposes, and normally his graduate training had almost nothing to do with what he found himself doing in the classroom.” (13)

And the point is…?

• The academic study of “English” has no fixed, foundational perspective, purpose, or “nature.”

And the point is…?

• The academic study of “English” has no fixed, foundational perspective, purpose, or “nature.”

• English departments are socially constructed, evolving to fit the needs of a persistently changing society.

And the point is…?

• The academic study of “English” has no fixed, foundational perspective, purpose, or “nature.”

• English departments are socially constructed, evolving to fit the needs of a persistently changing society.

• And change is on the horizon…

FIN