I actually think it's a shame. It seems that many English Lit departments (and associated K-12 pedagogy) have arrive at a kind expected & trite monoculture of t

I actually think it's a shame. It seems that many English Lit departments (and associated K-12 pedagogy) have arrive at a kind expected & trite monoculture of thought. There's a tremendous value to being able dissect a text, form an argument, and defend it. But what students ultimately find is that executing this well and demonstrating the validity of a viewpoint is not really the primary evaluation point but rather that the content conforms to pre-decided avenues of thought. These departments have the trappings and ceremony of rational thought, but none of the ability to face the revelations of diverse truths and viewpoints that challenge the established status quo. As a result millions of students leave the classes without the tools to read and analyze for comprehension and to form coherent and rational opinions that reflect the things that are important to them. Even worse, when they are presented with these cognitive models, they've "learned" to reject them. These tools can not only reflect thought, but also help shape it. Critical thinking results from it.