Louis Menand and Henry Louis Gates jr. have finally -- in terms of the exasperation of several people -- written a book that blows the whole dirty lid off of American/English university education. The book is phrased around a simple anecdote and question:
No disciplines have seized on professionalism with as much enthusiasm as the humanities. You can, Mr Menand points out, become a lawyer in three years and a medical doctor in four. But the median time—median!—to a doctoral degree in the humanities is nine years.
via
the EconomistSo the question Menand posed I think in the New Yorker some time ago is "why is it you can cut someone open with 4 years of education, but you can't teach novels in less than 9?" Thank you and good night.
Depressing for all the humanities.
Plug: I wrote about
Menand discussing the teaching of creative writing on my amateur blog.
inkdrinker.org
inkdrinker.org
