Bias in the English department?

[CaptainThunder]

<p>I have some queries for current/former English majors at UMD. I'm currently a freshman CS major, but I'm considering switching to English (and maybe minoring in CS) because I've decided that I want to be a fiction writer. I don't harbor the notion that an English degree will directly teach me how to write, but it will give me much more time than CS to work on my personal writing, and most of my coursework would be focused on reading and writing anyway.</p>

<p>However, I'm worried that I won't "fit in" with the professors and students in the English department. I'm a slightly conservative white male, but most English classes seem to have a strong focus on feminism, Marxism, and racial issues. I'd like to study literature in as pure a sense as possible, but I accept that the reality of modern academia is that politics is inextricably intertwined with the study of literature, and I wouldn't mind engaging with ideas that are opposed to my own. Nevertheless, I've heard horror stories from other schools about how one-sided the discussions in English classes can get, so I have some questions for anyone who went through the English program at UMD:</p>

<ul>
<li><p>Professors will have their own personal opinions, as will everyone else, but are they still capable of giving fair consideration to dissenting points of view? Can you disagree with the professor and still get a good grade?</p></li>
<li><p>As a straight, white, capitalist, conservative-for-a-lit-nerd male, will I face any particular bias in having my viewpoints considered fairly?</p></li>
<li><p>What's the general texture of classroom discussions? How often do students interject their own politics into the discussion, and how many different political ideologies are represented? So far at UMD, I've encountered a healthy mix of liberals and conservatives, so does this carry over to the English department?</p></li>
</ul>

<p>I'm sorry if I sound paranoid, but I want to make sure that if I do an English major, I'll be spending my time learning about literature, not defending my existence.</p>

[umcp11]

<p>Well, for starters, it will definitely depend heavily on the prof what theoretical approach he/she is going to take to the texts. I’ve had professors of both the formalist school and the new historicism school…most professors will inevitably combine many different theoretical approaches to the text even if they have a clear preference for one, and they’ll accept works from their students that also come from a wide range of theoretical lenses (though I have had professors specify explicitly that they were more interested in a formal rather than cultural/historical contextual reading of the text or vice versa). You can often tell what kind of class it’s going to be from the course title and description, or by e-mailing the prof. </p>

<p>Onto your specific questions.</p>

<ul>
<li>Professors will have their own personal opinions, as will everyone else, but are they still capable of giving fair consideration to dissenting points of view? </li>
</ul>

<p>Yes. Honestly, the level of discussion in many English classes is disheartening to say the least, so any intelligent comment will receive a lot weight and good will. That said, there’s a difference between commenting intelligently in turn and being belligerant and/or over eager to espouse one’s views without regarding the content of the text. I absolutely can’t stand kids who talk about how much they “dislike” a certain text for x number of personal reasons, yet can’t dissect the text itself intelligently. If your points of view are grounded in an examination of the literature, however, I can’t possibly see why anyone would have a problem with hearing them. </p>

<p>Can you disagree with the professor and still get a good grade?</p>

<p>I’ve actually had professors who are seeking out work that challenges them or makes them think of the text in a different light than they had looked at it previously. If anything, disagreeing with the professor will give your argument more credibility because it is more original.</p>

<ul>
<li>As a straight, white, capitalist, conservative-for-a-lit-nerd male, will I face any particular bias in having my viewpoints considered fairly?</li>
</ul>

<p>I don’t think so. That said, a lot of literature we read in class is not straight, white, capitalist, or conservative (I say this as someone who is not particularly interested in straight, white, capitalist or conservative literature, so maybe it’s my own bias peeking through because I have purposely chosen classes that interest me).</p>

<p>Basically, I don’t think there will be a lot of tolerance for someone who isn’t sensitive to the text, no matter what their political beliefs are. </p>

<p>The reason there is a lot of talk about race, gender, class, Marxism, etc. in English class is because of the content of the literature we’re reading…often the literature that survives, survives because it was cutting edge or radical for its time and examines issues of race, gender, and class in new or different ways. </p>

<ul>
<li>What’s the general texture of classroom discussions? How often do students interject their own politics into the discussion, and how many different political ideologies are represented? So far at UMD, I’ve encountered a healthy mix of liberals and conservatives, so does this carry over to the English department?</li>
</ul>

<p>Students interject their own politics really infrequently into discussions in my experience here. I believe the English department is overall more liberal than other departments simply because of the artsy type of kids that are attracted to it, but this is by no means scientific because personal politics are rarely at play in an English class. There’s somewhat of an understanding that an English class isn’t the space to go off about one’s own political ideologies. It’s more about examining what ideologies are present in the text or what ideologies the text challenges, if there’s any discussion of politics at all.</p>