Knowledge knows no boundaries

What are you going to do about IIT coaching?” My husband and I were at a parent-teacher meeting at our daughter’s secondary school. The principal had organised a meeting to share their plans on adding new Class 11 and 12 classes. The only aspect parents were keen on was what additional classes would be offered for engineering entrance exams.

This was ten years ago.

As a university professor teaching music appreciation courses, I feel little has changed in what parents want or higher education is prepared to offer. As my students enter college at a time of great upheaval, I wonder if educational institutions are doing enough to equip them to address various challenges ranging from public health to climate change. While there is consensus that education needs to evolve, there isn’t a clear agreement on how.

Beyond specific technical or academic skills, we need to enable our students to develop critical thinking skills and a creative approach to problem-solving. One way to do this is by adopting an interdisciplinary approach, which involves two or more academic, scientific or artistic disciplines.

Such an approach will help students develop what Harvard researchers Veronica Boix Mansilla and Elizabeth Duraising describe as interdisciplinary understanding which they define as, “the capacity to integrate knowledge and modes of thinking in two or more disciplines [...] to solving a problem, or creating a product.”

Integrating humanities and arts education as part of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM curriculum) is an example of such an interdisciplinary approach. Research shows that students understand concepts in a real-world context and approach problems with fresh perspectives. Ideally, such an interdisciplinary curriculum will have to extend into secondary education to equip students well.

Even before the pandemic, educational institutes across the world have been attempting to reinvent themselves. In India, higher educational institutions like Ashoka, O P Jindal and Ahmedabad University have started implementing an interdisciplinary approach in higher education. One of the aims of the new National Education Policy is to make the academic curriculum more interdisciplinary as well.

A course that I’m teaching this semester, “How Music Shapes Cities: Varanasi to NYC” at Ahmedabad University has students explore the interplay between three distinct fields—sociology, urban studies and music. The course has students examine how music shapes cities and in turn is influenced by them.

Collaborative education

Even while being introduced to different musical genres from across the world, these business and engineering students learn to think critically, challenging assumptions about the role of music, how it works with geography, economics and society. They also learn to work in teams and to advocate and effectively communicate their findings through interactive discussions, case studies, research and group presentations.

Despite research showing the benefits of interdisciplinary education, there has not been widespread adoption of it in Indian higher education. As Peter Senge observed in his book, ‘The Fifth Discipline’, “silos develop when a product or service meets the needs of its customers and becomes successful. The more successful the silo, the larger the fiefdom [that] develops around [it].”

University administrators need to work towards breaking down silos between departments. They need to come up with methods for incentivising faculty while they collaborate across divisions and schools.

Another step would be to engage with employers to come up with internships for students enrolled in interdisciplinary courses. When students have a wider net in terms of employment, parents would be more willing to buy into the philosophy of interdisciplinary education.

Interdisciplinary courses work well when there is a clarity of purpose, coherence in execution and a shared vision. While the solution is evident the challenges arise primarily when there is a need for shared vision among the stakeholders — students, parents, educators and their institutions. All stakeholders need to rally around to build this roadmap together.

(The writer is an educator, author and musician)