While there is much commendable about the American university system, it has qualities that, well, make you wonder what's going on.

The American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA) reported in May that English departments across the land have some strange priorities. Or at least that's what you might think if you consider an English department a place to teach and contemplate the great works of English-language literature.

The ACTA reports that only 15 of the top 70 English departments require English majors to take even one course in Shakespeare. On the other hand, there are plenty of other topics that English majors may take, including Baywatch and "radical vegetarian manifestos."

In the letter that accompanies the report Vanishing Shakespeare (PDF), ACTA president Anne D. Neal writes:

Georgetown may take the cake. It has "Sexing the Past," which looks at "how sex and sexuality may be read across time." Just what college students need--more discussions about sex.

By design, federal and state financial support of colleges and college students is meant to increase the supply of college classes. You've got to wonder if perhaps the subsidies are are little to effective in that regard; obviously all the important topics in the world have already been discussed and all serious problems solved if you can get college credit for talking about (and perhaps viewing) Baywatch.

(Note: I'm well aware that sexuality is not absent in the Bard's works or is not a worthy topic of discussion. It's all a matter of proportion and priorities.)