Why Literature and the Language Arts Still Matter

By Elizabeth Fritsch, senior English major at Silver Lake College

                         

  What do you do with a B.A. in English,

What is my life going to be?
Four years of college and plenty of knowledge,
Have earned me this useless degree.

I can't pay the bills yet,
'Cause I have no skills yet,
The world is a big scary place.

But somehow I can't shake,
The feeling I might make,
A difference,
To the human race.

(From Avenue Q)

The question is the same for all students who tell their family and friends that they plan to major in English: What are you going to do with an English degree?  And the question, as you may know, is never a question of polite curiosity.  As an English education major, the question is a little less brutal for me, since most people believe that the only profession one can realistically obtain with an English major is teaching.  The insinuation still exists, though, that I’d be far better off teaching in the field of mathematics, science, or technology.  After all, why do students need English?

All English teachers have heard the chorus of questions from their students (Why are we required to read Macbeth?  Why do we need to write persuasive essays?  Why do we need to understand archaic literary concepts?  Why do we need to know how to correctly use semicolons?) that effectively serve to undermine the respect given to English discipline and consequently devalue any profession in the discipline.  After all, the students have a point.  Nobody has asked me to evaluate the ending of Macbeth.  Nobody besides my teachers, professors, and a few peer editors has read any of my persuasive essays.  I can’t even remember that last time I used the words synecdoche or dactyl (and to be honest, half of the time I can’t remember what they mean), and the semicolon is extinct to almost all born in the digital age, save Matthew Inman, the creator of The Oatmeal.

(From: The Oatmeal)

If the purpose of literature and the language arts is not to instill students with a fervent appreciation of Tolstoy, a keen eye for comma splices, and the ability to tell the difference between an iamb and a trochee, what then is the purpose?  Some may argue that English serves the noble purpose of expanding students’ horizons, allowing them to think critically, creatively, and beyond their conception of self.  They may argue that the study of English and all it encompasses is essentially the study of humanity – of who we are at the core of our being.  While I think the discipline of English definitely attempts to do these things, when we take a critical look at our beloved discipline, an inconsistency occurs in what the study of English attempts and what students learn.  After all, if English really teaches what it means to be human and how to think and live critically and creatively, why aren’t college students scrambling to register for literature classes and why aren’t middle and high school students actually reading To Kill a Mockingbird instead of skimming the Sparknotes?

We need to reinvigorate the discipline with meaning.  To many students, English is a list of books to read and a stack of essays to write.  Those who have fallen in love with the discipline understand that it is so much more – that English is not just a discipline, but THE discipline which allows all other disciplines to flourish and have meaning.  All disciplines depend on English as their bedrock.  English allows for students to excel in Chemistry, Politics, Psychology, and even Math.  English is first and foremost the discipline that teaches the reception, discussion, and contribution of ideas.  The books and essays (as much as it may pain me to say it) are just the tools.  It is upon these skills that not only students’ grades and degrees hang, but also their ability to become lifelong learners and succeed in the professional world and beyond.  We need to teach students that the heart of English is the importance of ideas, not just the ideas of people who have died centuries ago, but also their own ideas, along with the ideas of their teachers and peers.

Yes, Beowulf might go away.  The semicolon may disappear.  Sonnets might become extinct.  But the importance of the reception, discussion, and contribution of ideas will remain eternal, and consequently, so will the need for people to study English.   

Elizabeth Fritsch is a senior at
Silver Lake College.  She is majoring
in English (teaching emphasis) and minoring
in History and Theology.