Press ReleasesGeneral Education
Statement on UPenn’s Removal of Shakespeare from the English Department—Literally and Figuratively
WASHINGTON, DC—In response to the student-led and faculty-supported removal of William Shakespeare’s portrait […]
Report
Alumni | Shakespeare
The Shakespeare File
What English Majors Are Really Studying
December 1, 1996 by Jerry L. Martin Download PDF Press ReleaseThis report reveals that Shakespeare is no longer a required course for English majors—the future English teachers of America—at two-thirds of the top 70 U.S. colleges and universities. The study was cited in hundreds of newspapers across the country, and on national television. The report was updated and enhanced in 2007 with the publication of The Vanishing Shakespeare.
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PodcastsGeneral Education
The Unkindest Cut
Wherefore art thou Shakespeare? As we celebrate the 400th anniversary of the Bard's death we examine ACTA's report, The Unkindest Cut: Shakespeare in Exile 2015. This report revealed that one of the most influential writers in the English language is no longer revered in the halls of America's colleges and universities.
The ForumGeneral Education
Guest Blog: The Value of an English Requirement
At the University of Dallas (UD)—a What Will They Learn?™ “A” school and my undergraduate alma mater—the most significant part of the core curriculum is the Literary Tradition sequence. Undergraduates take four literature classes, beginning with Homer’s Iliad in their first semester and ending with Faulkner’s Go Down, Moses in the fourth. Having had this […]
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PRESS MENTIONS
ACTA in the NewsGeneral Education
For English Departments, A Major Change
The final piece of evidence that the lunatics are running the academic asylum is now firmly in place. It was put there a few days ago by the National Alumni Forum, which, in a devastating report titled “The Shakespeare File: What English Majors Are Really Studying,” provided compelling proof that at most institutions that claim […]
ACTA in the NewsGeneral Education
At Colleges, Sun Is Setting on Shakespeare
Georgetown University’s abandoning of the requirement that English majors study at least two authors among Chaucer, Shakespeare and Milton–which drew criticism and prompted a teach-in last year–is now the norm, a new study by the National Alumni Forum finds. Two-thirds of the 67 colleges and universities responding to the forum’s survey submitted requirements and course […]
ACTA in the NewsGeneral Education
"Teach-In" Goes All-Out in Hailing Shakespeare
Using the bard’s own words, actors, scholars and students at a ‘teach-in” yesterday bashed colleges and universities for dropping Shakespeare and other great authors from college requirements. A quick national poll of 22 institutions revealed that 13 English departments had dropped their “great authors” requirements, said Jerry L. Martin, president of the National Alumni Forum, […]
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