English Department Unveils New Curriculum, Major

Just in time for Fall 2009 registration, Yeshiva College’s English Department has rolled out a redesigned curriculum with all-new courses.  A revamped and highly structured major accompanies this new syllabus, giving students a “coherent and cohesive shape for [their] studies and a chance to shape them further,” according to an explanatory booklet given out at a meeting to discuss the innovations earlier this semester.

Dr. Adam Newton, the Chair of the Department since Fall 2007, made this project a priority immediately after arriving.  He congratulated the department and his colleagues on the result, pointing to their “creativity, ingenuity, and vision” as well as acknowledging “a lot of goodwill” that helped the impressive expeditiousness of the redesign.  The previous construction of both the major and the curriculum dated to 2004, when YC followed some points raised in an external review from 2002.  That restructuring, however, according to Dr. Newton, did not address all the issues raised, specifically falling short of covering questions of genre, ethnicity, identity, and non-religious Jewish expression. 

On a broad scale, the curriculum aims to move away from a literary history and anthology-based model, completely removing any survey offerings.  In the stead of surveys and electives, a new system of courses will now be offered:  “Traditions” courses (labeled with a “T” in the catalog) and “Forms” courses (labeled with an “F”).  The “Traditions” courses will do more than the old surveys did, prompting students to discover and question the concepts of how texts develop their own histories, rather than simply presenting them with a chronologically-ordered reading list.  The “Forms” courses, which replace electives that were essentially “anything that wasn’t a survey,” will “emphasize genre and theoretical perspective,” looking toward “interpretive frameworks” rather than context for understanding works.

The redesign also takes place on the level of individual courses, as essentially all courses offered for the fall (with the exception of “Interpreting Texts,” the gateway course) are new and tailor-made for the fresh objectives of study.  The two essential words that students should expect to see in these courses are “question” (as a verb) and “discussion,” as the English Department will look for students themselves to engage the texts presented, placing them in relation to each other and noticing the dialogue between them, as well as pushing back with their own ideas and interpretations.  The idea of “discussion” is one that the department hopes students will recognize, adding new voices to the conversation already in place within the department regarding the major.

Dr. Newton argued that this new curriculum bolsters the English department.  He felt that by reorganizing the major around important modern topics and the expertise and scholarship of its professors, YC has taken a huge step toward academic superiority.  In addition, the hiring of a new Medievalist, Kirsty Campbell, from the University of Toronto, fills a hole in YC’s coverage with a highly-touted and well-rounded scholar and pedagogue.  Dr. Newton also made sure to praise the full English faculty.

The new major signals great change for English majors; under the previous design, students merely needed to complete a total of ten courses, one of which needed to be the gateway course (previously, “Literary Theory;” now, “Interpreting Texts”) and one of which needed to be a pre-1700 British Literature course.  In addition to the flexibility granted by that system, students could count up to two writing courses toward their major, meaning that no two students would emerge from Yeshiva College with the same courses under their belt, but also that there was no sense of what was necessary to know or practice in the study of English.  The lack of structure was liberating to money who enjoyed the flexibility.  Some, though, felt their majors simply became whatever courses looked good at the beginning of each semester.  The new major swings the pendulum in the other direction, intensively organizing the major over six areas of study that must be completed, though at the same time offering what Dr. Newton asserted was a fair balance of choices.

The first area students must complete is the newly-named gateway course which, in contrast to previous years, will be offered in many sections every semester.  All students, not just majors, are encouraged to take the “Interpreting Texts” course. The course will address the first “question” of the major, the question of texts: “Why read?” and “What is reading?”

From there, students will move on to the second and third areas of the major, consisting of two Traditions and two Forms courses, respectively.  In the former, the Medieval Literature requirement is sustained, as one of the two Traditions courses must be a pre-1760 literature course, though  not limited merely to British literature as before.  Students are encouraged to take, as they progress, “3000” level courses, which add writing intensity and additional focus on theories and methods, rather than “2000” level courses.

The Traditions and Forms parts of the major, which students are free to complete simultaneously, aim to introduce students to the variety of disciplinary and interdisciplinary topics, which will help in deciding where to spend time in section five of the major: fifteen credits of elective courses.  Constituting the “meat” of the program of study, this elective section allows students to take two of five courses outside of the department (granted specific approval of the course) in the departments of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures; Hebrew; Jewish Studies; any of the Social Sciences; or Art.