While William Shakespeare is often considered the all-time greatest writer of English literature, a new study has determined that less than 8 percent of the nation’s top universities are forcing English majors to take a course focused on the Bard. The American Council of Trustees and Alumni celebrated what is believed to be Shakespeare’s birthday on Thursday by publishing a report which revealed that only four of the 52 highest-ranked schools still have a Shakespeare requirement.
In the study, which was titled “The Unkindest Cut: Shakespeare in Exile 2015,” researchers determined that Harvard University, the University of California-Berkeley, Wellesley College and the U.S. Naval Academy are the only four schools in the U.S. News & World Report’s 52 highest-ranked universities and colleges which require English majors to take a course on Shakespeare to obtain their degree.
Michael Poliakoff, vice president of policy for the Washington, D.C.-based council and lead author of the study, called the findings “a terrible tragedy.”
“It is with sadness that we view this phenomenon,” said lead author Michael Poliakoff, vice president of policy for the Washington, D.C.-based council. “It really does make us grieve for the loss to a whole generation of young people who would look to a college or university for guidance about what is great and what is of the highest priority.”
Poliakoff pointed out in the report that since many English majors go on to teach the subject in schools after graduation, there will soon be a generation of English teachers who have never studied the Shakespeare in depth.
“The Bard, who is the birthright of the English speaking world, has no seat of honor,” the report says. “A degree in English without serious study of Shakespeare is like a major in Greek literature without the serious study of Homer.”
The report goes on to urge school administrators, trustees, and alumni to review curriculums and stop the “vicious circle of cultural illiteracy” by re-evaluating what students should be required to learn.
