What's the real point of an English major, Bostonian? This is a debatable question, is it not? If we want to look at it from a "marketable skills" POV, as everyone really seems to want to these days, then one can learn to write coherently, develop critical thinking skills, and argue a point whether one is reading Audre Lorde or Milton.

I was an English major and I have never read Milton. I don't seem to be dead.

Actually, the classes I took on the sort of thing that article pooh-poohs have been far more useful to me in my daily life than the one I took in, say, Medieval English Literature. That hasn't come up much, but understanding racism, sexism, etc has.

Furthermore, if you want to take a HARD English class, try taking one in literary theory.