Christian majoring in English at a secular college?

[Sonshine]

My son currently aspires to attend a state college and major in English. The information I have gathered so far indicates that at most colleges the focus in the English dept. is not on studying classic works but on random connections between literature and life with many of the connections being somewhat lurid.

My son has a strong faith in God and is picking this major somewhat naively. He loves to read great literature, especially ancient texts such as the Iliad. Even not coming from a Christian viewpoint, much of what I see when I read the available information seems like a waste of time at best, not true literature study. Does anyone have any insight or personal knowledge into the English departments at secular colleges and/or how a Christian does in that environment?

[JenneinCA]

If your son wants to study classical literature, he might find a major in "Classics" to work well. It would be lots of Latin and Greek and the study of ancient literature.

 

I can't speak to the Christian environment, but this might be an option.

[Sonshine]

Thanks - I'll look into this. I appreciate your input.

[Harriet Vane]

I went to University of Illinois (Champaign-Urbana) for English and Rhetoric. I am a Christian, and my faith at that time was strong and active as well (still is, I think! ;)).

 

I found there was a wide range of presentation as far as literature. I did have a couple super-liberal teaching assistants who inserted a negative, very modern bias into everything. I disliked those classes intensely. For example, I took one class that included thinly-veiled Christian bashing, with the TA encouraging the class to express their feelings about the works rather than actually analyzing them. I took another class thinking I was going to read the great American classics, but the TA had a list and an agenda that matched the fears you described in your post. That was a loooong semester.

 

ON THE OTHER HAND, I have to say that the majority of my TAs and professors simply taught the literature for what it was. The vast majority of my English classes were very enjoyable for this reason. I think fondly of a married professor couple--I inadvertently signed up for classes taught by each of them one semester. They were Jewish. I did classic plays with the mister, and Renaissance lit with the wife. What a great semester! They were wonderful teachers who enjoyed both the literature and the teaching. The female professor even read portions of the New Testament in class to help the class understand some of the symbolism and biblical allusions. It was totally appropriate to the literature and I thanked her. I had another professor who would read aloud portions of the assignment for the last five minutes of his lecture--it was just lovely.

 

Bottom line--I wouldn't make assumptions about state universities. You'll have to research a little into the professors and take a look at the reading lists offered for the various classes.

 

Also, keep in mind that your child may have a role to play too. With my more difficult teachers, I felt a sense of responsibility to represent my faith (and sometimes, to represent the literature!) with integrity. (By represent the literature, I mean that when a TA was drawing really ridiculous conclusions from a work, I enjoyed respectfully challenging that. I was good enough at analysis that I could challenge those conclusions offering evidence from the text. Not all teachers appreciated that, but often it was fine to offer my perspective as long as I was careful to back up my opinions with the text.) So, while I would not advocate tossing a kid into a difficult environment arbitrarily, I do think there is a place for someone with a strong faith to choose to exercise that faith with integrity in their studies.

[Harriet Vane]

One further thought . . .

 

I consider it absolutely essential for Christians in a secular environment to have a group of other Christians for support. I was heavily involved with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship while at university. I also had non-Christian friends, and lived fully in the secular environment (I lived in the dorms 3 years, and then had an apartment with both Christian and non-Christian friends my final year.) My involvement with IVCF provided support, accountability, and a safe haven.

 

My dh would say that same. Dh was also in IVCF, and lived in a fraternity house. Dh was/is a Christian, and felt privileged to be able to lead a Bible study at his fraternity house. His beliefs were respected by his fraternity brothers, and he was not pressured directly by his fraternity brothers to compromise them. In other words--there was NOT pressure on him to drink, etc.--BUT there was, of course, the fact that the culture itself generally was not supportive of dh's lifestyle of Christian faith. Dh credits his involvement with IVCF for providing the support and accountability to hold to his faith and in so doing, to have a genuinely really wonderful university and fraternity experience.

 

Bottom line--It should be a priority for anyone going to a secular college to have support through a church or Christian group of some sort.

 

Frankly, it should be a priority at ANY college--I attended a private Christian high school and am well aware that it's not always as conducive to the practice of our faith as one would like. :tongue_smilie:

[EKS]

There's a school called St. John's College that is all about great books.

 

http://www.stjohnscollege.edu/

[Sonshine]

That last post was so helpful. Thank you. Do you know of a way to determine ahead of time whether a college's English dept leans one way or another? I tired looking at some of the English dept's journals online and the two I looked at had what is called soft porn pictures and stories. Am I wrong to think these are representative of the associated depts?

[Sonshine]

I think I crossposted with Kai. I appreciate the St. John's suggestion. However, he is applying to a multitude of state colleges where he has a chance of getting some large scholarships.

[Tullia]

Some tools for getting the feel of a department:

Read the CV and published works of the department chair and profs.

Read reviews of textbooks listed for individual courses.

Look at the rate the prof websites, but take with a grain of salt. Ds has had some great instructors who got horrible reviews but the reviews were written so poorly that I laughed.

[Sonshine]

Thanks Martha for some helpful ideas. I am a researcher and can do what you suggested. I do wonder how seriously I should take those student magazines published by the English depts. Anyone know?

 

And yes, my son would be involved with a Christian group on campus. My husband was in Intervarsity by the way.

[Tullia]

...any single source can be misleading so I try to get as much information of different types as possible. For example, I was alarmed by the ToC and reviews of the text used in ds' first English course. However, he learned informally after the first class that his instructor's favorite authors were Tolkien and C.S. Lewis ;). She chose what was good from the anthology and ignored the rest. Even better, she helped ds refine his techniques of argumentation so that he's matured a lot in his ability to present his views in a way that doesn't violate his conscience or offend folks who see things differently. Even though he's at a CC, there is still a fair amount of departmental politics, but it's not as evident in the classroom as, for example, at the parent university.

 

My experience with departmental student publications is way out of date, but I found them to be self-consciously "edgy" to a greater degree than I ever saw in the classroom.

[Hannah C.]

I think student publications, such as literary magazines, are probably much more representative of the students than they are of what happens in the English department. I know the lit mag at my school, while it would never contain soft p*rn, is also not representative of our curriculum. :) It's just students being creative. We do have another publication which is more representative of the academic side of the college.

 

Would it be possible for you/your ds to talk to individual English professors or request info about the curriculum from the English depts at the schools he's looking at? The info may also be online. In my limited experience, colleges tend to be very open to answering prospective students' questions.