A symposium in the November 2006 issue of "College English" addresses the question, "What should college English be?" In this article, the author presents his answer to this question--it should be a functional approach to English studies. By English studies he means everything that is done in English departments. Most English departments teach…

The reforms of both literary studies and composition are essential if English department wants to remain integral to the liberal arts curriculum. English studies integrates work in literature, language studies and culture with horizontally writing instruction and not hierarchically.

Literature anthologies are part of the furniture of English departments. Like the putty or gunmetal-gray file cabinet that one might have gotten new or used, they are not a showpiece of academic decor, but it would be hard to imagine work spaces without them. Indeed, they are omnipresent, amassed on the shelves of campus bookstores, weighing down…

A course is described which attempted to bring together gay students and teachers to study and cope with the oppression of homosexuals. (JH)

Through the use of theater games, the literary and theatrical aspects of drama can be brought closer together in the classroom. (JH)

Reform in English studies is compromised by our tendency to talk like dilettantes, but behave like philologists. (JH)

Argues the need for professors and departments of English to reach a new consensus on goals for teaching literature. (JH)