An essay for my fellow eggheads

On the difference between what attracted us to capital "E" English and what the reality is on the other side of postgraduate education. link.

Key phrase: "English is, among my undergraduates at least, one of the last refuges of the classical notion of a liberal-arts education."

That's what it is for me, too, which may be why I find it so fulfilling. Granted, I'm also at an institution where there aren't quite so many other pressures. In fact, the state of the profession that "Prof. Benton" decries is actually far from my experience, and I often wonder at the repeated complaints along this line--i.e., to get a Ph.D. in English, you have to destroy your love for the literature. Has my experience been so different from other people's? Have I been that naive? Is it that I studied where I did, under whom I did? Is it just that I'm out of the "big time" and satisfied to be on the sidelines?

anyone else have thoughts?