Well, if this isn’t a good reason for a grad student passionately interested in English literature – meaning the study of classic literature written in English (starting with Beowulf and running all the way to Tom Stoppard) to avoid the U of Chicago and embrace a program of self-education then I don’t know what is. It’s akin to being invited to a grand, lavish multi-course banquet and then only allowed a single tiny plate of hors d oeuvres. Which you must consume, and praise lavishly, and not even consider looking over at the main course. Or for another comparison – be fascinated by American pop music all through the 20th century, and then only be permitted to specialize in Motown. Because … reasons. Anyone fascinated by Chaucer or Tin Pan Alley is just plain out of luck, because of systemic racism, and overwhelming whiteness of the culture and the stain of slavery, et cetera, which is usually the reason given. Frankly, I think it’s just momentarily fashionable to paint everything Black.
I also wonder if this, along with the Wuhan Flu, will spell the end of the “everybody goes to college!†madness. Spending a bomb for four (or five, or six) years of political and social indoctrination for a relatively useless degree in interpretive underwater puppetry and racking up student debt which will never be paid off on a Starbucks barista or a Soros agitator salary while you live in your old room at your parents’ house for the next two or three decades must, at this late date, seem like a bad idea. Of course, if you are genuinely fascinated by interpretive underwater puppetry, realize that the jobs out there for credentialed artists in that field are probably pretty slim, and perhaps a minor in something useful like HVAC technology or welding would allow you to get a good job, an apartment and a car of your own (even a boat and a lakeside cabin!) while you indulge your love of interpretive underwater puppetry on weekends. Not everyone belongs in college, and on observing the progressive snake-pit that higher academia has become, perhaps even the intelligent don’t belong there either.
As for me, my own degree was in English, but I really do wish that I had learned to weld or do fine carpentry. Any skill that someone will pay you a good wage to exercise is worth the trouble of acquiring. I did take an industrial drafting course once, for what that is worth. At least I came out of my degree program fairly well read, able to spell, use correct grammar and punctuation, which has not been the case for some years. (I also came out with enough money ahead that I could spend summer after graduation traveling in Great Britain. Also not the case of late.)
As for the fashion of painting everything Black, I wonder how long that will last. That’s the thing about fads – when everyone gets sick and tired of the fad, or become aware of the specious intellectual underpinning, it all comes crashing down. Look what happened to violent revolution in the 60s, disco in the 70s, or the recovered memory and associated Satanic abuse in day-care centers in the 80s. The inherent ridiculousness of it all became apparent, or ordinary people get tired of violence and lies for profit … and bye-bye, fad. I’m seeing the start of ordinary people of all colors and backgrounds get sick to death of being lectured about race by grifters. Discuss as you wish.