EDITOR’S NOTE: LTTEs regarding WVU Academic Transformation
From now until Aug. 31, we will open letters to the editor to WVU alumni and current and former staff and faculty, including those who live out of state, for any who would like to comment on WVU’s Academic Transformation. EMAIL submissions to opinion@dominionpost.com. MAIL submissions to: The Dominion Post, 1251 Earl L. Core Road, Morgantown, WV 26505. INCLUDE your name, hometown and phone number for confirmation. Letters should not exceed 300 words. Out-of-state alumni should include their graduation year and degree. Staff/faculty should include their position and years of service.
Regarding WVU’s review of the English dept.
My name is John Thrasher. I graduated from WVU in 2012 with a Bachelor of Arts in English, professional writing and editing. My concern regarding the elimination or reduction of this department can be expressed in two ways.
First, I must address how incredibly important having a classroom with less than 50 people in it was for my education at WVU. When comparing my time in lecture halls with hundreds of students to those English classes with 50 or less, my experience was far greater, more rewarding and more effective with the smaller English classes.
It’s not a secret that smaller and more intimate class sizes traditionally yield higher performing students and overall academic achievement. As a result of the smaller classrooms, I would engage my professors and even my classmates with much more confidence when it came to the material I was learning.
It would be an enormous error not just for the university but for education as a whole to begin eliminating departments and classes where students feel most safe and prepared to learn.
Second, I have to emphasize the importance of English, and specifically professional writing and editing, in 2023. In my personal experience as a professional in the global media industry, the standard of writing in which new professionals come to the job market has consistently dropped year-over-year.
In an age of emojis, abbreviated texts and, frankly, easy-access voice/video recording, I feel very strongly that superb writing, editing and communication skills are not only an essential component to an advanced education, but a requirement. The job market needs professionals who can utilize the skills like the professional writing and editing undergraduate program offers.
It is imperative that West Virginia University maintain its standard of excellence with the English department. There has never been a more crucial time for young students embarking on their careers to understand how to use their English degrees and skills in a very crowded and demanding marketplace.
John Thrasher
Senior producer, A+E Networks,
formerly NBCUniversal
Cumberland, Md.
