Aaron has another data point to justify my suspicions: "University English Departments Are Frauds".
I’d make the same argument for Ivy League English departments which, if you subtracted the faculty renowned for activism, would be decimated. Below is a set of links to all 8 Ivy English department faculties and the results confirmed(HT: Walloworld.)
my suspicions.There is hardly a professor who wasn’t a gay, black, latino, Marxist, or feminist activist. It is hard to argue that even a single dollar tuition paid for Ivy English department courses (outside of Freshman Composition) is well-spent. I’m not joking. A handful of legitimate scholars doesn’t justify the leftist-makework program for failed 1960’s radicals. It’s hard to argue that there is any groundbreaking research left in English departments. The country would be better off if most college English professors were fired and were compelled to teach junior and senior high school students how to write coherent sentences and paragraphs.
Hey, I came to your aid when you asked for help and this is how you pay me back? :) Lit. theory is useful. It's done more for me in my life than any dumb science.
M: You went to an Ivy League school? Where?
Oh, shush. *blush*
M: Plus, of course, the "dumb science" that created the computer you're using right now, and all those dumb vaccines you had as a kid, and all that dumb food you eat, and that dumb car you drive.
"There is hardly a professor who wasn’t a gay, black, latino, Marxist, or feminist activist"
...
And?
Professors' political affiliations have little to do with the quality of their teaching.
A: Depends on how you define "quality". The political/philisophical inclinations of a professor will obviously affect their approach to the subject matter.
Even though there is probably not much real research going on in the English departments, there is still a need for people to teach what is already known, as there are still students who wish to learn literary theory etc.
Um, that last sentence... that supposes these people know how to write coherent sentences and paragraphs. Looking at the stuff they publish, I wouldn't assume that (and having heard some give talks, I'm not sure they understand the English language at all).