Some Thoughts on Interdisciplinary Studies

Authors

Sidney F. Parham, University of Florida
Peter W. Graham, University of Florida

Abstract

The vogue for interdisciplinary courses has led our more crusty and conservative colleagues to complain that such programs represent a mere repackaging of traditional courses, a process that diminishes the value the student receives from traditional courses without broadening or integrating his knowledge. Too often this criticism is just. We should like to argue that a genuinely interdisciplinary approach does not repackage but restructures knowledge in such a way that students are led to consider the nature of knowledge itself and thus, we hope, to think about their own thinking. Such reflection seems to us a decidedly traditional goal of liberal education.

Recommended Citation

Parham, Sidney F. and Graham, Peter W. (1979) "Some Thoughts on Interdisciplinary Studies," Perspectives (1969-1979): Vol. 10: No. 1, Article 7.
Available at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/perspectives/vol10/iss1/7