Defining Liberal Arts and Interdisciplinary Studies: Analytical Essay

Creating global citizens: a case for interdisciplinary studies

Informed citizens can make informed decisions, making education the bread and butter of democracy. Higher education should foster this attitude, build off of students’ foundational knowledge and push them to think critically. It is liberal art’s claim to do this, however, the General Education structure is in need of reform and the separation of disciplines distracts the student from gaining a larger perspective or world view. With the inclusion of interdisciplinary studies, which directly focuses on Socratic seminars and critically examining the world through different lenses, the student can connect their knowledge and truly gain insights into the world around them.

Both interdisciplinary studies and liberal arts have the same goals for their students, critically think and be able to apply their knowledge to a variety of subjects. What differentiates interdisciplinary and liberal arts educations are what they demand of students and their perceived educational needs of citizens. To evaluate both educational programs, one must first understand their definitions and components.

A liberal arts education, as defined by Princeton University, aims for students to be, “exploring issues, ideas and methods across the humanities and the arts, and the natural and social sciences,” thus creating students who “[learn to] read critically, write cogently and think broadly… [to] cultivate the tools necessary to allow you to navigate the world’s most complex issues.” In short, a liberal arts education aims to create students who are both critical thinkers 1 and who know how to learn. With the ability to apply their knowledge to meet a variety of

1 Princeton University needs. For most universities, this is achieved via a General Education Program in which a student must complete courses in various disciplines.

Interdisciplinary studies can be described as, “A process of answering a question, solving a problem, or addressing a topic too broad or complex to be dealt with adequately by a single discipline.” More than just a combination of multiple disciplines, interdisciplinary studies seek 2 to merge disciplines towards the goal of crafting opinions and solving problems. It aims to create critically thinking students to navigate a complex world. This is achieved through the implementation of a Socratic seminar within a course that deals with multiple disciplines under a broad theme.

Both educational styles aim to instill critical thinking skills and create world citizens, making the merger of liberal arts and interdisciplinary studies one that is foreseeable. However, education serves more than this purpose; it also serves to get students employed.

Historically, schooling in the United States has been decentralized, meaning that the creation and administration of public schooling is of state-level authority. This means that curricula can be either state or private-based. This entails that educational standards are to some degree, the will of the people, as private institutions will only be successful if people attend them. Meaning, that schools change their curricula with popular job industries and the economic welfare of the country. In order to assess whether interdisciplinary studies can be implemented within liberal arts education, one must first understand why a liberal arts education is so popular.

Prior to the industrial revolution, only the elite or religious could attend higher education (aka university). As an agricultural-based society, most US citizens did not have the time or resources to invest in their education beyond simple literary and numerical skills. Education would also often occur in the home and be dependent on elders' religion, level of education, or profession. Thus, each student receives a different skill set. Something that worked at the time because there were few industries available to the everyday citizen. If one did want to pursue higher education, there were few options. This especially being true if you were a woman or did not wish to pursue a religious education. From 1638 - 1819 49 higher education institutes existed in the United States. 40 of which were private, further showing the exclusivity of higher education.

The industrial revolution began to change this because of the technological advances of the time which shifted the United States society. Between 1870 and 1900, twelve million people immigrated to United States cities to meet the demands of new industrial jobs. This brought in 5 the need not only for vocational work but also for people who understand how to create vocational industries, aka a technical education. This boom resulted in a multitude of disciplines that universities were unsure of how to handle. Along with an influx of diverse demographics, technological changes, labor reform, and the creation of a large middle class, public movements demanded educational reform. This persisted throughout the 20th century, with technological advances becoming even more rapid, deindustrialization occurring, and job industries again changing.

Coming to the modern day, technological advances are growing at a rapid pace and education must do more than educate people for one specific job; it must educate them for many. Thus the popularity of the liberal arts degree.

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Again, a liberal arts education aims to create students who easily acquire knowledge on a variety of subjects. This is done through GE requirements that aim to give students a taste of each discipline, so they can learn how to learn in a multitude of subjects. This equips United States students for the changing job industries driven by increased technological advancement. Additionally, liberal arts education recognizes that students may have multiple career changes, which require the flexibility of knowledge. However, despite Princeton’s mission statement to “creat[e] students who “[learn to] read critically, write cogently and think broadly… [to] cultivate the tools necessary to allow you to navigate the world’s most complex issues,” there is a case to be made against the brevity and segregation of knowledge that a liberal arts education provides. Where a liberal arts education can fall short, is not in its aim of creating critical 8 thinkers, but in how it goes about these aims.

The way in which a liberal arts education seeks to achieve critical thinking skills is through General Education (GE) requirements. GE programs vary from school to school, so for the purposes of clarity, this essay will use Chapman University, a private, mid-sized, liberal arts school, as an example. For a student at Chapman University, the GE requirements include Foreign Language, Written, Artistic, Natural Science, Quantitative, Values and Ethics, and Social Inquiries. Chapman is also unique in that it includes within its graduation requirements Global citizenship requirements and has an interdisciplinary program that students can apply to. A quick glance at the GE requirements would lead one to say that a student would leave university both well-rounded and with knowledge in a variety of subjects. However, a closer examination of how these courses are handled gives a different story.

Firstly, all GE requirements at Chapman University can be fulfilled before the student steps on campus or is even accepted. The Advanced Placement (AP) program, a high school course created by The College Board (the same corporation that owns the SAT), gives students the chance to earn university credit. Although necessary scores to achieve a credit varies, it has become commonplace for universities both public and private to acknowledge these test scores as being valid. It is also important to note that those schools are incentivized to have students take these courses due to a federal expansion for the AP exam to reach students of lower incomes. And for students, the potential to graduate from university (a costly endeavor) early, making AP classes courses prepares students for a specific standardized test. An example of this can be found in the AP Psychology exam. This exam has two parts, a multiple choice test, and short responses. The multiple choice test includes debated theories, such as Darley and Latane’s creation of “The Bystander Effect” after the murder of Kitty Genovese. Although this theory was created on the basis of no one calling in her murder, new information shows this may have been due to the police failing to document the calls, bringing the theory into question. Now, there is nothing wrong with learning about a subject that is debated, however, this course does not challenge the student's ability to critically think about the theory, it challenges them to memorize them. Bringing this back to Chapman, this means that their passing of the GE requirement for Social Inquiry does not necessarily equate to the learning outcomes set forth by the university, which states, “Students identify, frame and analyze social and/or historical structures and institutions in the world today”. This is because the course is not about the student learning psychology, it’s about them knowing the psychological terms the AP association has deemed worthy.

The next problem with GE’s is that they are made to be easy to pass. At Chapman, all GE courses, unless they pertain to your major, can be pass/no pass. This means that the student, with just a little effort to turn in a form, can get a 70% in a GE course and not have it impact their Grade Point Average (GPA). Now, this may seem like a godsend to students who struggle with 13 a course because it’s not their forte, however, it creates a negative culture around GE’s courses, instilling in both students and faculty that the courses don’t matter. Now, of course, you will have students who put their all into a course no matter the subject or their grade, but it is wishful thinking to believe that this is the majority of university students. One can look at RateMyProfessor.com and see classes that are easier will receive a higher score. In an opinion piece from the Harvard Crimson, Benjamin Woo expresses a similar sentiment, “ The general attitude [of students] is not of becoming educated, but simply of fulfilling requirements as efficiently as possible.” This connects back to the problem of the AP exams. Students have been taught that education is something to be achieved not gained, which impedes the aim of creating global citizens.

Finally, the very set-up of the GE requirement inherently falls short in creating critical thinkers. Courses are separated by discipline and not required to be in conversation with each other. Students learn each subject individually and topics that are complex may meet “an enemy of free discussion” or rather a one-sided view. If students cannot see a larger perspective on say “Non-western cultures,” they may be more apt to accept their ethnocentrism without debate. Essentially giving a blind eye to the rest of the world and claiming one’s normality as superior. However, without questioning that normality, innovation, freedom, and debate cannot occur. There must be a willingness to hear multiple sides to the same story to come away with any kind of real opinion.

Ultimately, a liberal arts education is failing to create the world citizens it aims to. Instead, it is creating students who know how to study and get through courses with an A. Education must do more than this, it must create curious citizens, with a willingness to learn and critique the world around them.

So why turn to interdisciplinary education? Well, this educational style relies on looking at complex issues as complex. It revolves around sampling an argument using many disciplines for the purpose of either understanding or of creating change. An example of this is Women’s 20 studies, a subject that inherently lends itself to interdisciplinary study. To merely address women’s studies as an examination of feminist philosophy would nowhere near encompass the complexities of women’s roles, challenges, and triumphs over time. For instance, this subject 21 may be extended to the historical roles of women, the socialization of gender, the idea of privilege, women’s rights movements, and the critique of feminist theories. Using this example, a women's studies course would involve the disciplines: of history, sociology, philosophy, and critical studies.

Thus to gain a comprehensive understanding of why there is a disparity between the human experience based on sex, one must see the perspective of many disciplines and be able to connect them to the common theme of womanhood.

Today's society sees an increase in partisan beliefs that are founded not in knowledge, but in the in and out-group bias. This bias entails that one will only be willing to seek out information that strengthens their group's arguments or deters those of the out-group. University education must open people's minds, not close them, “If students graduate believing that they can learn nothing from people they dislike or from those they disagree, we will have done them a great intellectual disservice,”. Ideological diversity must be present on campus and interdisciplinary education due to its founding in the Socratic seminar fosters this. This is dangerous to a democratic society because its citizens become sheep to whatever they learn because they never question. And for a country founded on the belief that freedom is not just a privilege, but right, critical thinking is foundational.

This is not to say that liberal education is a complete waste of time, just that it needs reform. Interdisciplinary education is a means to this reform that can create citizens who are more informed and can break down the complexities of the world we live in. Interdisciplinary studies focus on the Socratic seminar and the ability to craft knowledgeable arguments. Without liberal arts education, interdisciplinary education would lose its impact. In order to think critically on a topic or phenomena and participate in the Socratic seminar structure of an interdisciplinary course, one must have background knowledge on the subjects. Liberal arts education offers this backdrop; without general knowledge, one cannot have specific knowledge. However, the GE system does not foster knowledge, it fosters the passing of exams or the ability to learn information for the short-term efficiently. Although this is helpful in preparing students for constantly changing job instructions, it does not set up students to be global citizens or to think critically. Something that with the partisan divides of the world has become crucial to maintaining our country's democracy and being leaders. There are gaps in our higher education system that need to be addressed and interdisciplinary programs are one way to do this.

Bibliography

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