Messy Desks

Desks in the English department can get very messy.

Despite the efficiencies of the digital epoch, we can’t get away from paper. We love it. We hate it. We look way too closely and for far too long at the words printed on it, and make students write an endless number of words upon it.

English is a subject that focuses on the ability to communicate and understand communications effectively. But as teachers we justify the environmental recklessness of our aforementioned relationship with paper by holding on to the idea that our subject provides something more than just communicative skills.

Everything we do in English is also infused with what might best be described as a moral bent: we aim to help students attune to the moral challenges, value clashes, and general messiness of being human in an imperfect world. The great works of literature we study help us get a start on such endeavours, but the experiences and insights of our students push us along each day.