Re: On the Abolition of the English Department at Messiah College

Re: A Modest Proposal: Viz, On the Abolition of the English Department at Messiah College

The first thing among many things I would question about this proposal is how it serves to replace the English Department. I really don’t think that you would be drawing from the crowd of perspective students who want to study English. Simply put, students wanting to study English would just attend another institution. Even though the proposal seeks to address how the Christianity and Cultural Studies Department would benefit Christian students, it still doesn’t uphold the same ideals as an education in English. Furthermore, as a student who is also studying Religion I can say many of the objectives of the proposed Christianity and Cultural Studies degree are covered by the Religion major.
Many of the basic principles for the proposed department can be implemented into the English Department as it now stands without completely changing the department. As it now stands it completely lacks balance, and honestly I am pretty uncertain what one would do with a degree in Christianity and Cultural Studies, certainly not that which they would do with a degree in English. As if finding a job with an English degree is at all easy.

Responses to the four basic principles:
1. You can study Christians authors/ their history without it being the entire curriculum
2. As a liberal arts institution we already are required to take many of these courses
3. Students can develop more imagination when they are confined
4. We can require service learning without changing the entire department

· I could write a lot more but granted it is near 12 a.m. and I have been up since 6 a.m.- I’m quite tired.