Knowledge knows no boundaries

Learning across disciplines can help you broaden your perspectives.

The disciplinary boundaries between the arts and sciences are set in stone in mo
st Indian colleges, both literally and metaphorically. The pure sciences and rel
ated disciplines like microbiology, electronics and nanotechnology are typically
housed in a separate building from departments like English, history and journa
lism. Once a student opts for a particular stream, he can bid farewell to studyi
ng subjects offered by the other. Very few colleges in India offer programmes th
at allow students to transcend traditional disciplinary boundaries between the A
rts and Sciences. And due to this narrow, streamlined mindset, many students hol
d misconceptions about a liberal arts education, even when they are applying to
foreign universities.
Broaden perspectives
Students who are inclined towards the sciences and related fields tend to eschew
applying for programmes that offer a Liberal Arts education. However, the ratio
nale for this decision is misplaced as one can avail of an excellent science edu
cation in a liberal arts college. What liberal arts entails is that a student ta
kes courses across multiple disciplines while specialising or majoring in a subj
ect of one s choice. Thus, a student can major in chemistry but has to take a prer
equisite number of courses across an array of disciplines ranging from anthropol
ogy to women s studies, to philosophy.
Diversify
But what is the point of taking courses unrelated to my field? a student may right
ly ask. This question is more likely to be posed by someone who is certain of he
r choice of subject. For example, Pavitra is quite certain she wants to do a Ph.
D. in particle physics in the long term. Why, she asks, must I endure tracts of Sha
kespeare and Marx when I disliked English and economics in school? A person who h
arbours such strong sentiments is indeed likely to benefit from a broader and mo
re rounded education precisely because she is so set in her views. I am not disp
uting the fact that Pavitra likes some subjects over others; her views may only
intensify after she takes a mandatory English or philosophy or psychology course
.
But as an undergraduate, she is still too young to necessarily know or understan
d the breadth and scope of fields and the undergraduate years are an excellent t
ime to sample what different fields have to offer. Often, content covered in sch
ool is of a rather basic nature and a student may not really get a grip on what
a field entails unless she studies it at a more advanced level. While it is not
possible for any student to take courses in all disciplines, sampling a broader
variety of courses can guide youngsters towards a path that is more akin to thei
r interests.
Different dimensions
Furthermore, studying courses across disciplines can help you view your own subj
ect from a new lens. When I was in high school, I disliked biology. What I didn t
know at that time was that I probably did not like the subject because I had thr
ee different teachers teaching it in the span of a year. As a result, I did not
opt for biology in classes XI and XII, and chose electronics instead. However, o
nce I got to college and pursued psychology, I realised that I was more drawn to
wards biology than I had initially thought. When studying how the mind works and
why people behave in certain ways, I realised that an understanding of the brai
n was essential.
Thus, when I started reading about the brain as a college student, I experienced
a twinge of regret for having given up on biology too soon.
Moreover, disciplinary boundaries are not as opaque or rigid as we are normally

led to believe. After all, knowledge knows no boundaries. Fields that differ sub
stantively from another, may actually use one another s methods. For example, Matt
hew Jockers, an assistant professor of English at the University of Nebraska, re
lies on digital tools to analyse trends, themes and patterns in literary tomes.
He relies on algorithms to sieve through texts. Likewise, the interdisciplinary
field of neuroeconomics uses the methods and tools of neuroscience, psychology a
nd behavioral economics to understand how humans make economic decisions.
Thus, while students of the humanities may benefit from taking courses in Scienc
e, the scientists may also expand their view of the universe through the prism o
f historians, biographers and philosophers. In his biography of the eminent scie
ntist, American writer Walter Isaacson writes that Einstein was asked by the New
York State Education Department about what schools should give importance to, a
nd he replied by saying that students should learn history, especially how influ
ential thinkers shaped the course of humanity.
Branch out
So what do you do if you are enrolled in an undergraduate programme that does no
t allow students to take courses across disciplines? In order to expand the fron
tiers of your mind, you may read a wide variety of books not related to your fie
ld of study. Further, you do not have to opt for dry, academic books, but can ch
oose from an array of popular non-fiction books to get an insight into the kinds
of questions studied in various fields. In almost every discipline, there are a
n abundant number of books written for laypersons by experts that avoid unnecess
ary technical jargon.
These books are generally easy to comprehend and can give you a flavour of what
questions a field asks and the methods it adopts to study them. If your curiosit
y is piqued by a particular idea, you can always delve further.
Edward Ray, President, Oregon State University, describes the results of a natio
nal survey of American employers in The Huffington Post. Ninety-three per cent o
f surveyed employers felt that a candidate s undergraduate specialisation was less
relevant than his or her ability to think critically, communicate clearly, and s
olve complex problems. And taking courses across disciplines or at least reading
widely can help students see and seek more distant horizons.