CFP: Commensurate with Experience: Work and the Next Generation of English Scholars (3/1/06; MLA '06)
Call for Papers: Commensurate with Experience: Work
and the Next Generation of English Scholars. Proposed
Special Session for MLA '06 (3/01/06; MLA '06)
Citing findings from the National Center for
Educational Statistics (NCES), Louis Menand points out
in his 2005 contribution to MLA's _Profession_ that
between 1970 and 2001 the number of English majors has
dropped, roughly, by a third; however "the system is
producing the same number of doctorates in English
that it was producing back in 1970. These Ph.D.s have
trouble getting tenure-track jobs because fewer
students major in English, and therefore the demand
for English literature specialists has declined"
(12-13).