In a world where technology and other amenities are constantly changing our standard of living, knowledge and its accessibility are no exception to this cultural phenomenon. What makes knowledge so universal is the fact that it can be described or categorized as new, old, and in some cases even prophetic. To have access to all of this information is essentially what defines the purpose of a liberal arts school. As Joe Moran attempts to define the nature of interdisciplinarity throughout the book, Interdisciplinarity, he mentions how the German philosopher, Wilhelm von Humboldt, once described a university as a place where one can, “lay open the whole body of learning and expound both the principles and the foundations of all knowledge,” (9). A liberal arts school offers the chance to experience a range of knowledge, which is necessary for the human mind to keep growing. Out of the many options that one has the chance to explore as student at a liberal arts school, the study of English stands above the rest. What makes the English major so unique is the idea that English itself is comprised of a combination of skills, ranging from the obvious ability to read, to the more advanced skill of being able to take the text outside of the classroom and relate it to everyday life situations, ultimately making it easier to adapt to the situation at hand.
Moran ultimately comes to the conclusion that, “interdisciplinarity is always transformative in some way, producing new forms of knowledge in its engagement with discrete disciplines,” a definition which pairs well with the ideology that encompasses the English major (15). Through the concept of interdisciplinarity, ideas and knowledge are ever changing, as they are constantly being combined, altered or even forgotten. The study of English is just as flexible through the way it can involve learning and reading about situations and concepts from hundreds of years ago, to relating to the current zeitgeist of our time.
The New York Times article, “The Decline and Fall of the English Major,” by Verlyn Klinkenborg describes how the teaching of the of humanities has declined in recent years. Klinkenborg explains that the skill of reading and writing clearly is the foundation of the humanities, which she defines as, “a set of disciplines that is ultimately an attempt to examine and comprehend the cultural, social and historical activity of our species through the medium of language,” (1). What propels me to question Klinkenborg’s definition of the humanities is the fact that this definition can be applied to almost any other field of study because all fields require skills which relate to those explored in the English major. With her perception in mind, a decline in the art of the humanities therefore means a decline in the art of every other discipline. The English major involves skills used in all other majors, linking the mastering of skills in English to understanding concepts in other disciplines, making the disciplines interdependent of each other. The stigma behind the English major is that it cannot be applied to the real world, however its versatility is what makes an English major so marketable.