Journal - 5

While reading English Studies: An Introduction to the Discipline(s), I came across an argument I found interesting: the debate over the problem of specialization. While some scholars feel that it is more important to have people specialize in and gain a great deal of knowledge of certain areas, others feel that it detracts from the general learning of subjects. David Easton, author of "The Division, Transfer, and Integration of Knowledge", disagrees with such specialization in subject. He feels that "...today the basic disciplines have not only clearly identified themselves but have subdivided internally into many subfields; and often, even with these, specialization continues apace."

Some of the problems of specialization are categorized under the name of "the Humpty Dumpty problem". Used as a metaphor, Easton says that our world of knowledge is becoming like Humpty Dumpty - we keep breaking down learning into all these little pieces and subfields, but we can't take all the pieces and make them one whole piece of knowledge again. Easton claims that we are losing part of our knowledge base b studying specific subjects, and I have mixed feelings about it. On one hand, I agree that we may not be getting as much of a knowledge base only because we focus on it in the early years of education, and switch to specialization in the later years. On the other hand, I still insist that people who can become extremely familiar with one specific area of interest they choose are extremely useful to society. Think about a doctor who specializes in neurosurgery. Since there is so much to learn about that one specific part of the body, it makes sense to let a student study entirely on that one subject until he or she becomes fully knowledgeable in the area.

The authors go on to argue that breaking up literature and English into small subjects does not help. The book explains that specialization can create many different problems. These problems are listed as: (1) specialization ruins the "coverage model" for English curriculum; (2) "unbalanced structure causes logistical problems"; (3) if a department focuses on one area of literature specialization, it will only give a narrowed scope of different works through a certain viewpoint; (4) when people focus specifically on one section, they are unable to present it in terms of a broader view to share with other scholars and teachers; (5) new areas of specialization are branching out every year, making it hard to pinpoint what to focus on; (6) the more focused we are on an area of specialization, the less we are in-tune with the entire academic world; and, (7) when we become so engrossed in our areas of specialization, we can no longer speak with peers or other scholars in terms of what we are learning, because we all speak with different terms about different areas of specialization. With all that said, I still personally believe that it can help give students a greater understanding of the subject they are interested in. The only thing we need to do is constantly update and refresh our general knowledges of the subject, as well as knowledge of the subdivisions of each subject.