The Carnegie Foundation commissioned a series of essays as part of the Carnegie Initiative on the Doctorate (CID). The essays and essayists represent six disciplines that are part of the CID: chemistry, education, English, history, mathematics, and neuroscience. The essay explores the Ph.D. in English and suggests changes the author would make in departmental culture to improve the program. The essay discusses access to the Ph.D. and entry and persistence in the profession of teaching English in college. It describes the changes in admissions policies and curriculum and in the hurdles students must leap in pursuing the degree. Paternalism and patronizing persist in English studies, and women and minorities continue to be excluded in many instances. Inclusive admissions policies that did not favor intense competition would ignore the Graduate Record Examinations and look at the qualities of the student. Graduate study could be made more open-ended and wide-ranging, but would benefit from a clear and detailed articulation of what constitutes the purview of English studies. In the "new" Ph.D. program, graduate students would be colleagues rather than acolytes, partners in learning. (Contains 16 references.) (SLD)