In our first piece, we talked about the complexities and nuances of what the Liberal Arts Education landscape looks like in India. As part of our series on Liberal Arts Education, this week I delve into the inter-disciplinary nature of Liberal Arts and how this strengthens, rather than weakens the idea of 'Expertise' as is generally understood.
Liberal Arts initially started off as a preferred mode of education in Ancient Greece, during the period of Classical Antiquity with seven liberal arts subjects identified as the essential topics that citizens must be educated on. The Trivium (grammar, logic, and rhetoric) and the Quitrivium (arithmetic, geometry, music, astronomy) were recognized as the ideal combination of themes to have knowledge on. The Enlightenment period in Europe constituted one of knowledge, intellectual exploration and the coming together of many disciplines.
Then, the liberal arts tradition traveled to the U.S around the 19th century into their college system and evolved further to include other subjects, such as in natural sciences, life sciences, social sciences and the arts- those that form the 4 core disciplines under liberal arts. The principle however remained the same, that of combining knowledge on different topics. This is the unique aspect of liberal arts - the diversity of the themes involved. An ability to see the world through different lenses, beyond the narrow perspective of what one has been trained in, is the broad and wise essence of liberal arts.
Pythagoras, a scholar and one of the foremost liberal arts thinkers, did not have this problem. He was able to see the link between different disciplines, particularly in music and mathematics. This brilliant piece charts out how music theory came into being and how its basis was mathematical patterns, as recognized by Pythagoras for the first time. He was able to decipher this relationship even without having the knowledge of frequencies, which is now a foundational concept in music theory.
It is this versatility and ability to identify relationships between multiple disciplines that a liberal arts education aims to train its students in. Expertise is therefore somewhat overrated, and the skill to recognize interlinkages between different themes underrated.
An interesting case that reflects this dissonance between inter-disciplinarity and expertise is the history of the term Doctor. During a recent argument between friends, where one argued that medical doctors were the “real” doctors, I had an urge to clarify this misunderstanding. Were medical doctors always referred to as doctors?
Upon some searching, I found out that the term “Doctorate” has its roots in the latin word docēre which means 'to teach'. The term was used to address scholars of any subject, especially in philosophy, physics or art. How that word evolved to also address medical doctors is an interesting journey. Due to its respect and prestige, medical schools - especially those in Scotland, started to address their graduates as “Doctors” in the 17th Century. Therefore, medical doctors came to be addressed with that term much after philosophers were! On the flip side, some countries don't pay it the same heed as the rest of the world. In Italy, for example, anyone who completes a three year bachelor's degree is referred to as a 'dottore'.
In the same spirit, the term 'Scientist' also came about later, commanding respect and reflecting a certain level of expertise. However, they were first referred to as natural philosophers. Isaac Newton, for example, identified as a natural philosopher. Scientific instruments like telescopes and air pumps were also known as “philosophical instruments”. Did these labels make the instruments any less scientific, or Newton any less of a scientist?
Further, the person who is credited with creating the field of sociology, August Compte called it social physics for the longest time. He believed that it should be possible to do for society what Newton did for astronomy. Develop hard and simple laws through academic exploration through this unique discipline!
The fluidity of these concepts and terms is testament to the idea that they exist in complex linkages - much like the foundation of Liberal Arts itself. Perhaps the effort to break them into isolated streams comes from the human need for organization, control and easier administration. This isolation also leads to an overemphasis on 'expertise'. However, dear reader, imagine how open and advanced our society would be if we embraced this chaos and interlinkages, instead of taming or suppressing it!
Learning Better? Use BS & Liberal Arts.
The learning process must be well balanced between the use of hands and of the mind. In other words, skills and knowledge should be two sides of the coin of learning. Thus, the learner becomes very adept at the use of these skills. The curriculum must, as much as possible, use a transdisciplinary approach to tackling the specific problems that emanate from the much broader themes centred around the needs and challenges of the world.
Students must largely work in groups on focused and specific project based issues within the much larger domain of the needs and challenges of the world. These issues must lead to very specific and manageable projects that deal with problems under the umbrella of general themes such as climate change, the energy crisis, health and nutrition challenges, conflict resolution issues, social transformation, tribal and forest management issues, transportation challenges, quantum computing, space technologies slum and village redevelopment, environmental degradation, reclaiming and protecting habitats that harbour wildlife, managing the oceans and the polar regions, building and connecting in smart and integrated ways villages, towns and cities, becoming adept at sporting activities. This list is just a representative sample of what could be included but it is not exhaustive.
The curriculum must have embedded within it, natural ways through such projects as above, approaches for the acquisition of skills and knowledge for the learner through productive and efficient communication strategies.
The acquisition of skills, but more importantly the ability to learn, diversify, and work in teams is one of the greatest achievements of a Liberal Arts education. It refuses to look at subjects in silos, but engages students actively. Just think - Behaviour science would not have been possible if arts, and science could not interact in this meaningful way!
The Lab This Week
Bringing Behavioral Science to Teaching and Learning Innovation – Center for Academic Innovation
This is a lab that works on cross current of using innovation, behaviour, and academic engagement. In the strictest sense of the term it is not a lab but it is taking behaviour lessons out of the academics for better education.
The center has behavioural scientists work with academicians, technologists, and others to improve habits, and behaviours of learners who use the University of Michigan's digital pedagogical tools, and platforms.
One innovative product they have worked on can be found on the following url: https://ecoach.ai.umich.edu/Welcome/
