I am a student. First and foremost at Erskine College, we emphasize being "whole persons," cultivate interests in all fields, etc, etc, blah blah blah. But what does that really mean? Well, several things for me. One, however, is a most fun/trying habit. This habit is the overwhelming need to come up with topics and fields that combine one or more academic disciplines.
I doubt this is a wide-spread thing for most people. It probably stems from when I was a Music-English double major, trying to qualify/excuse the combination. I thought of things like "Incidental music in plays" and "Literary analysis of texts" and other things of that sort. Ways to creatively combine the two areas of study. Naturally, as I transitioned to other subject matters and classes, I carried that habit with me. For instance, in a presentation for the psychology class, Abnormal Psychology, I discussed three creative art figures (Schumann, van Gogh, and Hemingway) and how their respective disorders (Bipolar disorder) affected their art. In Developmental Psychology, my first ideas for that class's presentation would have involved an intense examination of the developing psyche of Henry V in Shakespeare's history plays. Finally, in a later English class, Modern Drama, I was overjoyed to be able to cite the DSM-IV in the course of a paper (Examining the manipulative nature of a character: one sub-topic was that she was almost a caricature of the diagnostic criteria for narcissistic disorder).
I was sitting in another class, during a bonus lecture about the creation and formatting of manuscripts (the original kind, that were animal skin) which got me thinking about biology. Part of the identification process involves figuring out out what animal gave its skin for the particular parchment. Apparently, many identifying aspects of the animal remain, like impressions from ribs, pores, follicles, etc... So I then surmised that a good paleographer would need a smattering of biological study in his or her background. Part of this discipline includes the dating (and, no doubt, localizing) of the manuscripts. Then I made the deduction that a manuscript studying class could be a biology and English double credit class.
At least, in my mind. I'm sure there's not enough aspects of biology involved to justify it. However, my days as a double major have changed me now. Combined with my somewhat mercenary view of academic exploration (Ooooh, I can take a Bible class to study the Bible and get credit for it! Ooooh, I could go to Greenville Tech to learn about cars and get a degree for it!) I now like to imagine ways of creating double and even triple credit classes. Part of my motivation is because of a genuine interest: many general ed requirements have sparked interests in aspects of different fields (for biology, the study of insects, cicadas specifically; for music, the analysis and composition; for Bible, the literary qualities of the text; for math, trigonometry). Part of it is because of pragmatism: if I can get two elective major classes at the same time, it frees up time for another class or some breathing room. Perhaps dreaming up class ideas could get me a job as a dean or adviser at a college someday. For now, it is just my curse. The curse of the liberal arts college.
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