Department of English Language & Literature
Careers
Graduates of the program in English have gone on to successful careers as novelists, elementary or high-school teachers, college professors, technical writers, and travel writers, to name a few. The emphasis on textual analysis and writing skill, however, makes English a strong undergraduate major for many professions, including journalism, law, public relations, and library science, and for a variety of areas in the business world.
After Whittier
English majors go into a great variety of fields after graduation. The major is not designed to prepare for a specific career, but the skills it develops in reading carefully and writing precisely are going to be useful in most professions. Many English majors do choose careers in which writing and oral communication are important, and you might bear this in mind in choosing both your courses and your extracurricular activities. Working on the Quaker Campus or the Acropolis (yearbook), seeking out both on- and off-campus internships in public relations, and working as a tutor in the Writing Center are all ways to polish skills that will make you valuable to future employers.
Graduate School
If you are considering graduate work in English, pay particular attention to the above advice on foreign languages. Also be particularly careful to take a wide range of literature courses --your particular passion may be for, let us say, postmodern America, but the Graduate Record examinations are going to ask you about seventeenth century England and the Victorians too. There are bound to be gaps in your knowledge--you’d hardly need graduate school if there weren’t-- but try to avoid chasms. And do study for the exams. The kinds of paper assignments and examinations we use may not be the best possible preparation for multiple choice examinations; we are not about to change what we think it is the best way to teach people to deal intelligently with literature, but the GREs are an obstacle you will need to surmount.
Working your way through a major anthology like the Norton is a good way to prepare. Pay particular attention to the critical introductions that give you a comprehensive overview of an entire period. If there is a major area that you have been unable to schedule any course work in, ask faculty members for copies of syllabi so that you can plan your own reading intelligently. Make every effort to include History of Literary Criticism among your courses. In addition, you should pay particular attention to how you supplement your major work with appropriate courses in other areas of the humanities, especially philosophy (all courses, but Philosophy of Art would be particularly good), drama, history, religion, and art history.
Teaching
Many of you may be considering either elementary or secondary teaching. You will need to consult a member of the Department of Education & Childhood Development about credential requirements, but you can work with your English department advisor on them too.
English is one of the easiest majors to fit in with the distribution requirements for elementary certification, since it is one of the four areas in which students are required to take between 18 and 21 credits. The others are math and science, social sciences, and the humanities. Yes, we think English is a "humanity" too, but we’re talking about the State of California here. As we pair extensively, particularly with other humanities departments, it’s easy to combine liberal education requirements, major courses, and distribution requirements for the credential, as long as you plan carefully. Pay particular attention to the above advice on foreign language study --those courses also count in the humanities category for the credential. We strongly recommend that prospective elementary teachers meet their English major requirement in the language area by taking English 313 Linguistics.
Secondary teaching candidates are required to meet that requirement with Linguistics. In addition to the 36 credits required for the Whittier College English major, they must take an additional 9 credits in what the state refers to as breadth and perspective studies. Any English course not included in the 36 credits required for the major may be included here. In addition, you may choose from the following extra-departmental courses:
Education 262 Children’s Literature
English 201 Introduction to Journalism
Interdisciplinary 33 Teaching Expository Writing
Spanish 225 Southern California Chicano Literature *
Theatre Arts 101 Basic Oral Communication
Theatre Arts 200 Theatrical Creativity
Theatre Arts 250 The Theatre
Theatre Arts 280 Introduction to Cinema
Theatre Arts 372 World Theatre
*Also listed as English 225; you may enroll in it as either. Note that the State requires study a minority literature, a requirement that can be filled by this course, by Asians in America, or by African American Literary Tradition.
One additional literature course from the Department of Foreign Languages may be included in this area.
You needn’t try to take a bit of everything here; the idea is to develop competence in areas that support your own interests. However, it is worth noting that few high schools can afford to hire people who only teach drama or journalism. Plays are usually directed and newspapers advised by English teachers. Coursework in these areas (including Acting and Directing as well as the classes listed above), participation in plays, and working on the Quaker Campus or the Acropolis make you all the more employable.
