Research Blog #10

The Overspecialization of Education

Abstract:

The increasing cost of college tuition is causing the demands of the job market to significantly influence the aim of higher education. Employers are demanding graduates that specialize in a specific set of skills. As a result, enrollment numbers are plummeting for liberal arts programs that have historically provided college students with a broad range of knowledge. There is a limit to the benefits of this trend towards a specialized education. Individual college students that are specialized to an extreme degree will forgo the opportunity to learn a broad range of useful skills. This paper seeks to establish the drawbacks of an overspecialized education by discussing the educational theories of John Dewey, David Meens, and Adam Smith. Going forward, the aim of higher education seems to be trending towards producing a workforce rather than developing well-rounded members of society.

Works Cited

Cappelli, Peter. "Why Focusing Too Narrowly in College Could Backfire." The Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones & Company, 15 Nov. 2013. Web. 10 Dec. 2016.

De, Nikhilesh, Minna Kim, Chloe Dopico, and Nick Huber. "Rutgers Unveils 4-year Plan to Improve School of Arts and Sciences." The Daily Targum. The Daily Targum, 20 Sept. 2016. Web. 09 Dec. 2016.

Dewey, John. "Democracy And Education." (1916): HathiTrust. Web. 9 Dec. 2016.

Malone, TW, RJ Laubacher, and T Johns. "The Age Of Hyperspecialization." Harvard Business Review 89.7-8 (n.d.): 56-+. Social Sciences Citation Index. Web. 9 Dec. 2016.

McCreadie, Karen, and Adam Smith. Adam Smith's The Wealth Of Nations : A Modern-Day Interpretation Of An Economic Classic. Oxford: Infinite Ideas, 2009. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost). Web. 9 Dec. 2016.

Meens, David E. "Democratic Education Versus Smithian Efficiency: Prospects For A Deweyan Ideal In The 'Neoliberal Age'." Educational Theory 66.1/2 (2016): 211. Publisher Provided Full Text Searching File. Web. 9 Dec. 2016.

Neal, Micki, Carla Fletcher, Melissa Shook, and Jeff Webster. Balancing Passion and Practicality: The Role of Debt and Major on Students' Financial Outcomes. Rep. N.p.: TG Research and Analytical Services, 2012.

Root. "Specialization." Investopedia. N.p., 27 Mar. 2015. Web. 15 Dec. 2016.

Smith, Adam, Edwin Cannan, and Max Lerner. An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. New York: The Modern library, 1937.

Williams, Terri. "Enrollment Down at Colleges of Arts and Sciences - GoodCall News." GoodCall News. N.p., 02 July 2015. Web. 15 Dec. 2016.

Woodhouse, Kellie. "Colleges of Arts and Sciences Struggle with Deficits as Enrollment Declines." Colleges of Arts and Sciences Struggle with Deficits as Enrollment Declines. Inside Higher Ed, 4 June 2015. Web. 09 Dec. 2016.

Literature Review #5

Citation :

Smith, Adam, Edwin Cannan, and Max Lerner. An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. New York: The Modern library, 1937.

Summary:

Adam Smith wrote this famous book in 1776, in which he proposed many of his economical theories. One of his most famous theories proposed in the book is his specialization theory. Smith proposed that the division of labor would contribute to exponential economic growth over time. However, Smith did warn that there was a limit to the benefits from specialization. Many of the theories proposed by Adam Smith in this book are still relevant today.

About the Author:

Adam Smith was a Scottish philosopher and a pioneer of political economy. He is best known for this book, The Wealth of Nations,and for his theory of the invisible hand.

Key Terms:

Specialization (division of labor)

The Invisible Hand

Practical Education

Quotes:

“men are much more likely to discover easier methods when the whole attention of their mind is directed towards that single object than when it is dissipated among a great variety of things”

"The man whose whole life is spent in performing a few simple operations, of which the effects are perhaps always the same, or very nearly the same, has no occasion to exert his understanding or exercise his invention in finding out expedients for removing difficulties which never occur”

“He naturally loses, therefore, the habit of such exertion, and generally becomes as stupid and ignorant as it is possible for a human creature to become”

Value:

This book is hands down my most valuable source. This book is really the foundation for modern specialization and is written by perhaps the most influential economist in history. Adam Smith's proposed limit to the benefits of specialization provides excellent support for my argument.

Research Blog #9 Argument/Counter Argument

Argument:

Colleges are focusing their attention more and more on specialized educational programs. This increased specialization in higher education is damaging to individual college students. In fact, too much specialization stifles an individual’s intellectual growth.

Counter-Argument:

A counter-argument would be that specialization is benfitical to college students. In his essay, Democratic Education Versus Smithian Efficiency: Prospects For A Deweyan Ideal In The 'Neoliberal Age, David Meens argues that specialization is beneficital to college students in todays economy.

“The principle that economic efficiency depends upon ever-increasing specialization means that any country pursuing democratic equality goals of universal general education and the equal treatment of students in a shared environment will thereby become less efficient and therefore less competitive” - David Meens