English 10 dropped soundlessly from the course catalogue last year, with little or no protest from English concentrators, faculty, or students at large. But its absence has lessened the number of courses in the English Department which try to give a historical perspective to literature and, perhaps more important, has discouraged some nonconcentrators from taking courses in the field.
No one is anxious to have English 10 or its equivalent required of all concentrators again, but the skip-stop survey it afforded students has not been replaced with a course of similar range and viewpoint. Non-concentrators are now inclined to take survey courses in American literature, which are abounding, rejecting English literature as too specialized.
Returning English 10 would be valuable for English Majors as well. The only way to provide an equivalent survey within the existing structure of course requirements would be to make Humanities 6 more and more historical, thus making it less attractive to people not anticipating an English major. English 10 should be returned to the catalogue for its own value and for the service it would do the General Education program in making Humanities 6 less monopolized by English concentrators.
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