The Decline and Fall of the English Major - NYTimes.com

You would think that we English majors could come up with an persuasive defense of our field of study, but we've mostly just moaned about it. At the link below, VERLYN KLINKENBORG of the New York Times begins making our case against the prevailing tyranny of immediate utility.

Excerpt:: "What many undergraduates do not know — and what so many of their professors have been unable to tell them — is how valuable the most fundamental gift of the humanities will turn out to be. That gift is clear thinking, clear writing and a lifelong engagement with literature."

Link: The Decline and Fall of the English Major - NYTimes.com:

The situation: "In 1991, 165 students graduated from Yale with a B.A. in English literature. By 2012, that number was 62. In 1991, the top two majors at Yale were history and English. In 2013, they were economics and political science. At Pomona this year, they were economics and mathematics."