THE MODULAR MULTIDISCIPLINARY MAJOR: AN ALTERNATIVE TO TRADITIONAL MAJORS
Hershey H. Friedman, Ph.D. Professor of Business Brooklyn College of the City University of New York 2900 Bedford Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11210 (718) 951-5119
[email protected] Linda Weiser Friedman, Ph.D. Professor of Computer Information Systems and Statistics Baruch College and the Graduate School of CUNY 17 Lexington Avenue, Box E-0435, New York, NY 10010 (212) 802-6265
[email protected] Yehuda L. Klein, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Economics and Deputy Director, Environmental Studies Program Brooklyn College of the City University of New York 2900 Bedford Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11210 (718) 951-4159
[email protected]
ABSTRACT Currently, most undergraduates major in a single academic discipline. For students whose intellectual interests or career objectives are more appropriately satisfied by crossing traditional disciplinary boundaries, the authors discuss the feasibility of multidisciplinary majors. Three models are studied: a fully integrated interdisciplinary major; a conventional major with an additional module (i.e., a minor) in a second field; and a modular multidisciplinary major comprising two (or more) modules. The option of a modular multidisciplinary major expands the number of majors available to students, and encourages students to broaden their academic and career horizons. Two pilot studies are discussed. INTRODUCTION Currently, most students are expected to major in a single area of study. For example, a student might choose to major in computer science and take approximately 10 to 15 courses in that area. While this system works well for many students, especially those following a well-defined, traditional career path, many others are stymied by this system. In particular, we know that many students remain undecided as to major until they are well into their junior year since they cannot find a single discipline that appeals to them strongly. This uncertainty can lengthen their college stay, especially if they change their major several times. Although a lack of academic focus might be seen as a negative, it should be borne in mind that many of the most important discoveries of this century were made possible by individuals whose interests and training extended beyond narrow disciplinary boundaries. It is interesting to note, for example, that the technology for developing the laser existed for several decades before the first working laser was demonstrated in 1960. Part of the technology needed for developing lasers was well known in the electrical engineering field, that of oscillating amplifiers used in radio (light amplification). The quantum mechanical aspects of laser technology were well known in atomic physics and were developed in the 1920’s by Albert Einstein (stimulated emission of radiation). The laser could not, however, be perfected until someone who knew the two fields could combine the two technologies. Much technology works this way and it is therefore, in many cases, important for individuals to have knowledge of two or
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more fields. Increasingly, we find that the distinctions between individual disciplines are blurring and are due more to historical reasons than to real differences. For some students, their career goals require broad knowledge of two or three areas rather than the more traditional, intensive knowledge of a single discipline. For such students, a fully-integrated interdisciplinary major may be most appropriate. Others, who are interested in two or more disciplines, are reluctant to focus on one particular program to the exclusion of other interests. A uni-disciplinary major combined with a related minor can meet their needs. Such a program may also be appropriate for students planning to enter a profession such as law or medicine, for which there is no uniquely appropriate major at the undergraduate level. Finally, some students are unable to focus on a career path or discipline at the undergraduate level, and float from major to major for a protracted period of time. For such students, a modular multidisciplinary major can provide an appropriate foundation for a number of career or graduate study paths. ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES: A FULLY-INTEGRATED INTERDISCIPLINARY MAJOR The newly-approved environmental studies program at Brooklyn College is a typical example of a fully-integrated interdisciplinary major. Many of the most heated environmental controversies stem from the inability of scientists to interpret information concerning the environment in terms that are accessible to the public, and the corresponding inability of public interest groups and politicians to have their needs and interests addressed by the scientific community. The goal of the environmental studies program is to develop in students the ability to bridge this communications gap. The program, comprising about 30 credits each in the sciences and social sciences, provides students with a basic literacy in both environmental science and policy studies. This program is intended to provide students with the tools necessary to pursue careers in environmental science, law, journalism, and policy. THE ECONOMICS, FINANCE, AND MARKETING MINORS FOR LIBERAL ARTS MAJORS The Economics Department at Brooklyn College offers minors in economics, finance, and marketing. These programs, comprising 15 credits of introductory courses and electives, complement both liberal arts and preprofessional programs. These programs are particularly well suited for pre-professional students (e.g., pre-law) who can select a liberal arts major such as English, history, philosophy or political science, while taking a minor concentration in business or economics. These programs may also be especially attractive to students majoring in journalism, television/radio, and film, who are interested in pursuing a career in the communications industry. With the business-oriented minor, these students become more attractive to potential employers. THE MODULAR MULTIDISCIPLINARY MAJOR The creation of fully-integrated interdisciplinary majors is certainly an attractive solution and should be further developed. However, there is a limit to the number of interdisciplinary majors that can be created. Once established, say, in reaction to market forces (student demand), an academic program of study acquires its own constituency. It is thus difficult to disband when interest wanes. The continual and rapid change inherent in many academic disciplines, particularly in today’s technological, sociological, political, and legal environments, necessitates a more dynamic, and flexible solution. We propose a totally new approach to our notion of what constitutes a program of study. Our approach is simple and requires a very low overhead. Every department and program at a college is given the option of creating a concentration (i.e., a module) consisting of 5 to 7 advanced courses. These courses should be selected so that they will provide students with a reasonable amount of depth and breadth within an area and also mesh well with other areas when used in combination. Students who opt for the multidisciplinary modular major will be able, with the guidance and approval of a counselor in the department of the student's choice, to construct an academic program consisting of two or more modules. The modular multidisciplinary major is a simple way of allowing students to create interdisciplinary majors. It will provide them with more breadth than a traditional one-discipline major and only sacrifices a limited amount of depth. There are many areas which are currently not popular among students as major fields of study. These are usually either very specialized areas, e.g., a foreign language, or very technical areas, e.g., physics or statistics. Some of
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these disciplines may be able to achieve broader student interest if they can be incorporated within a modular major. For example, statistics is one of the very small majors at most institutions, but as part of a modular major it can be combined in many interesting ways, for example, statistics/marketing (for students interested in marketing research), statistics/biology (biomedical research), statistics/sociology (survey research), political science/statistics (public affairs research). Similarly, modern languages can be naturally paired with business or pre-professional modules. Spanish/marketing or Japanese/international business would be a useful modular major for a student planning a career in Latin America or the Far East. The modular multidisciplinary major may be of interest to some students with a very focused career path. For instance, a student interested in a public relations career might find a modular major more helpful to her career than a major in English. There are a number of careers that we feel can be better enhanced by the modular major than a traditional major. These include: public relations (English/speech/business), corporate law (accounting/political science), marketing research (marketing/statistics), social work (sociology/psychology), library science (computer information systems/English), stockbroker (finance/economics), commercial art (art/marketing), and nursing (biology/health education). It is quite likely that the modular multidisciplinary major will help speed up the graduation process. Many students who are undecided as to their major will no longer have to keep switching majors until they find an appropriate major, a process which lengthens the time needed to graduate. The multidisciplinary modular major increases students’ options for majors dramatically and allows them to easily combine two or three areas thus reducing the time spent searching for a suitable major. Brooklyn College is currently contemplating a liberal arts major which is somewhat similar to the paradigm of a modular multidisciplinary major. The objective of this program is to accommodate this subpopulation of students that have diverse interests but no clear single focus. TWO PILOT STUDIES Two different pilot studies were conducted: One, to determine how students decide in which discipline to major and to gauge students’ satisfaction with their major. The second study was conducted in order to determine whether students had any interest in modular multidisciplinary majors. Both studies were conducted at a large urban college in New York City with an enrollment of about 11,000 undergraduate students and about 95 different majors. Both studies were somewhat skewed towards accounting and business majors (study one, 50% and study two, 48%). At the time when these studies were conducted, the three most popular majors in the school were education (early childhood and elementary education), business, and accounting; these three accounted for about 40 percent of all undergraduate degrees granted. The first study (n=100) found respondents’ overall satisfaction with their major to be 3.6 on a nine-point scale (1 = “extremely satisfied”; 9 = “extremely dissatisfied”). Only 42 percent of respondents checked the top two boxes, the part of the scale that would indicate a great deal of satisfaction. Thirty-three percent of respondents had changed their major at least once, and only 10 percent of respondents decided on their major in their junior or senior years. Surprisingly, 37 percent decided on their major before college. Fifty-two percent decided on a major during their freshmen or sophomore years. On average, it took respondents about one year to decide on a major. Respondents’ mean rating of the ease/difficulty of choosing a major was 3.9 on nine-point scale (1 = “extremely easy”; 9 = “extremely difficult”). Eighty-three percent of respondents felt that it was either very likely or likely that their current major would relate to their future career. The most important factors in choosing a major were: personal satisfaction, interest, the job market, and future salary. The least important factors were: ease of major, relatedness to current job, and number of credits required for the major. The importance of factors such as parents, friends, professors, advertisements, career services, and high school teachers in influencing the choice of major was minimal. Parents had the highest mean importance rating, a mere 2.5 on a four-point importance scale (1 = “extremely important,” 2 = “important,” 3 = “slightly important,” 4 = “not important”). Seventy-eight percent of respondents either strongly agreed or agreed that “A good undergraduate major is crucial to your future career.” In the second study (n=103), respondents were asked whether they would consider graduating with two minors rather than one major, if this were an option. Sixty-six percent of respondents said they would definitely or probably
consider the option of graduating with two minors. Respondents were then asked in an open-ended question which two minors they would select if this were a viable option. Some of the options mentioned included: accounting/computer science (20 mentions), computer science/business (15 mentions) , accounting/general science (13 mentions), computer science/education (10 mentions), business/art (7 mentions), computers/art (6 mentions) , business/psychology (5 mentions), education/psychology (5 mentions), computers/psychology (4 mentions), and business/speech (3 mentions). Apparently, subjects had no problem with the concept of a major consisting of two concentrations rather than the traditional one-discipline major. CONCLUSION We believe that the multidisciplinary modular major is a simple way to expand the number of possible majors. With this approach, one hundred disciplines can create 100 modules and students then have a choice of any of (the original) 100 majors or the choice of any two or three modules to create a major. Since there are 4,950 dual modules that can be selected from 100 modules (100 Combination 2), the number of choices available to students increases dramatically at minimal cost. The modular multidisciplinary major is less expensive and easier to implement than ad/hoc or shaped majors which some colleges currently allow as options. Those usually require special permission and are difficult to use since a new ad/hoc major has to be created from scratch every time a student requests it. With the modular major, the modules are all in place and students, with the guidance and approval of a counselor from a department selected by the student, can design an individual program of study from two or more modules.
