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Jonathan Marks: “Liberal Education Corrects Our Narrowness”
Jonathan Marks has been an educator for almost a quarter century, and is currently Professor and Chair of Politics and International Relations at Ursinus
They’re calling it “the unkindest cut of all.” As Shakespeare fans prepare to celebrate the Bard’s 443rd birthday Monday, researchers for a non-profit group say fewer colleges appear to require students to study the influential author.
Just 15 of 70 institutions studied require English majors to take a course on Shakespeare, says a report by the American Council of Trustees and Alumni, a Washington-based group that promotes academic quality. At least six of those schools dropped or weakened requirements since 1996, when the group did a similar study.
The report examines requirements of English majors at U.S. News & World Report’s top 25-ranked national universities and liberal arts colleges, schools in the Big 10 college athletic conference, and a selection of California and New York colleges, along with schools in Washington, D.C., where the Bard is being honored with public events. The study credited an institution with having a Shakespeare requirement if a majority of English majors have to take either a course on Shakespeare or two out of three single-author courses on Chaucer, Shakespeare or Milton.
Among findings:
Earning a bachelor’s degree in English without the study of Shakespeare “is tantamount to fraud,” says Anne Neal, president of the group.
Jonathan Marks has been an educator for almost a quarter century, and is currently Professor and Chair of Politics and International Relations at Ursinus
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