The Two Cultures Debate and the New American University

Since the days of Plato’s Academy and Aristotle’s Lyceum, the intellectual community has been divided in two. This division has continued into the present day, most notably evidenced by the dichotomy between science and arts majors. There has been much debate over the last two centuries regarding how to bridge this divide, and whether or not doing so is necessary. Scholars like C. P. Snow have argued that interdisciplinary education is humanity’s only hope for confronting its current and future problems, while scholars like F.R. Leavis believe calls to restructure education are an oversimplification of a more complex problem. With its emphasis on global and local outreach, interdisciplinary education, and use-inspired research, the New American University model currently in use by Arizona State University is a literal attempt at bridging this divide. Schools like the College of Integrated Sciences and Arts have created an environment that encourages interdisciplinary collaboration. President Crow attributes this progress to what he calls “the design approach.” Unlike a rigid blueprint, the design approach instead looks at each problem in isolation, allowing for a unique solution to be tailor-made to fit each scenario. Despite the initial successes of the New American University model, however, it is still important to remain observant and critical of its practices into the future, as too much of an emphasis on interdisciplinarity could have the opposite of its intended effect, and potentially drive students who wish to specialize away from traditional universities altogether.