The case for English

Olivia Widalski, a junior majoring in English in LAS, has landed a job that must sound as good as Shakespeare to her favorite English professor, Christopher Freeburg. She works in computer technical support.

Granted, it’s just an after-school job on campus while she earns her English degree, but Freeburg’s class helps her deal with computer users in this unlikely position. She works up front.

“People come to me with a lot of software and computer problems, and personally I don’t know much about software or computers, but using what I’ve learned in my English classes, and especially Professor Freeburg’s classes, I can group it into a larger problem, and translate that back to the people who work with the technology,” she says. “I can do that because I can listen well and organize their thoughts, and I can reiterate it to the support people in a much clearer manner.”

To Freeburg, who is among a growing number of faculty and administrators who realize that students need to learn how to sell their English degree better, Widalski’s story is a victory. A degree in English, Freeburg says, is an excellent primer for careers in a variety of fields—but, particularly in today’s world, with growing emphasis on the STEM fields, the point must be made clearer.

Freeburg teaches American and African American literature. He wrote an essay for Profession magazine in 2012, called “Teaching Literature and the Bitter Truth about Starbucks,” in which he advocates the “vocationalization” of his field—that is, giving students an awareness of how the skills they’re learning in English classes are applicable in the modern workplace.

“I kind of used the word ‘vocation’ to be a little bit provocative. Many people in the humanities have an allergic reaction to that term, because it insinuates that we’re going to degrade or reduce literature,” Freeburg says. “I don’t mean it that way, but at the same time, fundamentally, what are we teaching our students? After the students go to your class, what can they do better?”

To Freeburg and other English professors—and students who can see the big picture of what they’re learning—what they can do better is obvious. Indeed, interpreting and analyzing complex texts may be one of the best ways to develop critical thinking skills across disciplines, from English to science, law, and business.

“The ability to come up with industry questions, solve those questions, and appreciate answers is something that cuts across smart and successful people in all fields, and it’s something that English majors do really, really well,” Freeburg says. “Especially when it comes down to making the tough choices about how to communicate that in writing. That is an analytic power that few can really match, and it comes from the love of literature, not reducing it.”

So how is this taught? And how do you make English students appreciate what they’ve learned? Freeburg, who is recognized in the department for pushing this concept, says part of it is intensive writing (students in some classes are expected to produce two journal entries a week analyzing topics that were discussed in class) and identifying, asking, and answering meaningful questions.

“I want them not just to earn a grade but also to define what it means to be educated through language and literature,” Freeburg writes in his essay. “I introduce them to the form and substance of note-taking, the topics and purposes of response papers, reading practices and outcomes, and the rationales for small-group discussions.”

As for discussions, Freeburg asks students to write down questions during their reading. During class they pick out the most interesting questions, look to the text to answer the question, and evaluate their approach in answering it.

Widalski, who is taking two classes with Freeburg this semester, says it’s intensive work, but it teaches them to identify greater themes and patterns by focusing on one aspect or angle.

“I think that translates really well into the professional, post-graduate world, because we’re going to be bombarded with a lot of information, whether it’s in a business-related field or science-related,” Widalski says. “It’s important to focus, and collect all your thoughts into one sentence, for example, and make that sentence resonate throughout the rest of your work.”

Perhaps most importantly, however, students are gaining appreciation for how English can fuel a successful career. Widalski says Freeburg began classes this fall with “pep talks” about the importance of what they were studying, and how it was important to their future. The message seemed to get through.

“People can be skeptical of what we do and how it translates into other fields. He addressed that right away,” Widalski says. “He doesn’t ignore it. I talked to other students and what he said just made us more confident about our majors in general, and how we can apply what we learn elsewhere.”