Last month, the University approved a reorganization of the English department's curriculum, trying to model it in part on the freshman FOCUS program with a cluster of courses grouped around a specific topic.
The English major has been sorely in need of reorganization and additional focus. Currently, the requirements are somewhat haphazard and do not provide students with sufficient guidance about what courses or types of courses to take. And the general idea of the English department to add coherency through clusters of three consecutive courses, each building off the one before, is a strong model around which to base a meaningful educational experience.
The English department should think very carefully about what types of clusters it offers. Currently, the proposed clusters--which include the history of the book, creative writing, theory of the novel, gender and sexuality, the science of literature and psychoanalysis and literature--seem somewhat tangentially related to the study of English literature per se. Perhaps the English department should consider clustering studies around time periods, nationalities, or genres of literature rather than on these more esoteric subjects.
One encouraging prospect is the creative writing focus. Although this focus may be a bit unusual for a research university, it is nevertheless an interesting idea and might encourage students who are interested in becoming writers to come to Duke. Also, the codification of a creative writing program could help present Duke students who are interested in creative writing yet currently have a limited outlet.
Also, the requirement that students take courses about English literature across various time periods is a good one, although it may not go far enough in properly guiding students into taking courses on the best authors and seminal texts.
In this vein, one disappointing aspect of the new English curriculum is its de-emphasis on some of the central figures of English literature--Shakespeare, Chaucer and Milton. Currently, English majors must take at least one class on one of these authors. However, under the new system, one can major in English without having read anything by any of them. In order to ensure that English majors receive a complete education in the Western tradition, perhaps the English department should institute requirements stressing the importance of these authors.
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