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I’m deeply saddened, and angered, by the decision made by @uniofleicester - where I spent six years & gained two degrees - to scrap the teaching of medieval literature. I’ll try to explain why, in a nutshell.
The English dept at UoL impressed me when I was a student, & impresses me even more now I am an academic myself. It was, & is, packed with wonderful scholars who do exciting things. It is heterodox & dynamic. And undergrad students are given an unusually comprehensive education.
They really do study a full range of English literature. This isn’t usual. Trust me. And then they go and get good jobs. It works As a department, perhaps its most impressive strength - or so it seems to me - is in medieval literature. Why? Let me explain...
Leicester has a good reputation (which is sliding), but it isn’t a Russell Gp university. It isn’t full of rich, privately-educated students. I don’t know the figures, but the vast majority of universities ‘like’ Leicester don’t teach medieval lit, or at least not really. So...
...the overwhelming majority of students who have the world of medieval literature opened wide for them are at the sorts of universities filled with kids who didn’t go to state schools. And good luck to them. But: what a world it is! This isn’t just a USP, though it is that.
I was so proud to study a degree that developed and sparked new passions - including in contemporary literature AND writing from a millennium ago. And I was taught by fascinating people in both (and much else besides). And I was lucky, because...
...the only university that offered this to me - a state school kid who had lots of potential but not much else - has now, fifteen years later, decided that it doesn’t want to give similar kids similar opportunities. It wants to chase fashionable rainbows instead.
I didn’t know I’d write that kind of account of my feelings. I had at least ten disappointments in my head, and that was only one of them. To summarise a few others: 1. Imagine building that legacy and then dismantling it! Good luck rebuilding it in the future. 2. I gained...
...MANY practical skills by studying medieval lit, and a solid grounding in history too - things that enrich my daily life. 3. Throwing staff under the bus is despicable. 4. Most of the brilliant PhD students I knew were working on medieval/early modern projects and had funding.
I hope @uniofleicester reconsiders what it is doing. I’d like to stay proud that I am an alumnus, and keen to recommend it to new students. Because at present that degree is a rare gem. It really is.
And you can trust my opinion, because I am an owl.
Addendum. Some idiot has just accused me of a 'dog whistle' for using the phrase 'chasing rainbows'. So, for avoidance of doubt, I meant the fashionable pursuit of attractive goals that won't be reached. Throwing a subject under the bus to pursue 'employability' at its expense...
..., for example, when the subject already does that & has employability skills embedded within it - carefully, by ppl who've obvs taken it seriously. I don't take kindly to implications that I am prejudiced. It might have been a SLIGHTLY unfortunate metaphor. It was in a tweet.
Actually, it was 'fashionable rainbows'. Same difference. The sense was obvious - or at least you had to read it in very bad faith to reach that conclusion. The only sensible thing to do if someone falsely accuses you of prejudice is to say 'HOW DARE YOU?' in no uncertain terms.
