English Literature's Decline: From Wisdom to Ideology Kills Academic Disciplines
Source: https://www.facebook.com/americanspectator/. "Studies in Pride, Envy, Pointlessness, and Death | The American Spectator | USA News and Politics." February 28, 2026. spectator.org
The Gist
English departments are dying because professors stopped teaching great books for wisdom and instead use them as tools for political activism. Students are smart enough to avoid classes with bitter, ideological teachers who offer nothing new or valuable.
Conclusion
English literature departments have destroyed their own relevance by abandoning the pursuit of wisdom and objective truth in favor of political ideology, causing students to flee and the discipline to die
Premises
- English literature enrollment has collapsed to only 1 in 60 college students choosing it as a major
- Modern English professors subordinate great literature to political and sexual preoccupations rather than seeking wisdom
- The politicization of academia has replaced broad, honest scholarship with narrow ideological propaganda
- Students avoid courses taught by bitter, unpleasant professors who offer repetitive political haranguing instead of genuine learning
- Professors who deny objective truth and beauty cannot teach wisdom they don't believe exists
- Academic insulation from consequences prevents professors from acknowledging their failures and reforming
Assumptions
- Objective moral truth, goodness, and beauty exist and can be discovered through literature
- The primary purpose of humanities education should be to convey wisdom, not advance political agendas
- Great literature has inherent value that transcends contemporary political concerns
- Students can recognize the difference between genuine education and ideological indoctrination
- Academic disciplines that abandon their core mission will inevitably decline