Why teach English?”English departments democratize the practice of reading. When they do, they make...

 
Why teach English?
 
”English departments democratize the practice of reading. When they do, they make the books of the past available to all. It’s a simple but potent act.”
 
The article linked from the New Yorker raises a good question. English departments seem to be heading down a path of the clumsy flightless bird, which became extinct about the end of the 17th century. The article mentions that Pomona College this spring had only sixteen students graduate with an English major out of a student body of 1,560, “a terribly small number, and from other, similar schools, other, similar numbers.”
 
Do you think the English departments are still relevant to both reader and writer as they once were?
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2013/08/why-teach-english.html
 
Photograph by Riccardo Venturi/Contrasto/Redux