Year 12s: what will be the first way you research your future options? >>

Why do people study English at uni?

robin1123

Why not just read books at home?

Reply 1

Kogomogo

There's a bit more to it than just reading a few books

Reply 2

Jas.acs

Original post by robin1123

Why not just read books at home?

It's more about learning the meanings behind the books you read, the in depth analysis of the texts, the historical context, you get to hear about other people's opinions and interpretations of the books you study, you get to write essays which challenge your perception of the books etc etc.
I love English a lot and find it's a super fun subject to study and having lessons that focus upon the books just give me an altogether better sense of what I'm reading compared to if I was just reading for pleasure at home.

Reply 3

username5706823

can't get a degree at home now can you?

Reply 4

artful_lounger

Universities Forum Helper

Are you just going around making threads asking "why study X degree" in all the forums?

You seem to be fundamentally missing the point of what a degree is, what you do on it, and what you can do with one...

Anyway the point of English literature at degree level is not about "reading books". In fact even at A-level it's not just about "reading" in general - it's about doing literary analysis on various texts (books or otherwise). As with history degrees the point of an English degree is not just to read some text but to critically analyse it and learn how to do that.

Also to be fair, some literary texts are not exactly easy to get your head around without some guidance, and some may well be very hard to get much out of without a full supporting historical and cultural context provided!