Frankly, there has been a lot of criticism about many of College President Jim Yong Kim's initiatives that focus heavily on the sciences and graduate studies. Many have expressed concern that new projects, like the newly announced Dartmouth Center for Health Care Delivery Science, will cause a systematic decline in Dartmouth's commitment to high quality undergraduate liberal arts education ("Praise, concern greet DCHCDS," May 19). Even the theater minor in me was a little concerned, with words like "science" and "graduate degree" being thrown around that the future of Dartmouth would include a little bit less room for the arts and humanities that I hold dear.
I no longer think we have anything to fear. Rather than taking focus away from the undergraduate experience or liberal arts ideals, the new Center will be a valuable and worthwhile addition to the College in many respects. It has the potential to draw thinkers and experts to Dartmouth, enhancing the opportunities at the College for graduates and undergraduates alike. More importantly, it is likely that this new Center will actually do some good. By providing a place for research and discussion, it might actually improve the way people receive and experience health care in this country and around the world.
The most interesting and important aspect of the Center is that it seeks to find solutions to real world problems by combining different methods, ideas and academic fields. More than anything, this is the quality that made me understand the extent to which this Center could improve learning and teaching at Dartmouth as a whole by promoting discussion and collaboration between many parts of campus. If it goes ahead as planned, the Center will not be just skills training for the next set of health care professionals, but rather, will engage a variety of people whether they want to pursue a career in health care or not to think in new ways about a particular issue.
Lest we forget, the best part of the liberal arts experience is the "liberal" part learning in many different areas and disciplines is what truly completes an education. As someone with a modified major and two minors that cover the social sciences, humanities and the arts, I have come to realize that finding the common thread in a variety of different subjects is one of the most rewarding academic experiences. Understanding the ways in which different ideas and fields fit together requires a creativity of thought that is the real "skill" in which Dartmouth should be training us. An isolated study of biology or literature can only teach so much, but a combination of these studies can provide a broader picture of the human experience and encourage multiple ways of thinking.
A common trope among undergraduates and in many other of The Dartmouth's opinion columns is that we must choose to either major in an area that will train us in a practical skill and be directly applicable to our future careers or pursue a course of study that excites us intellectually but is lacking in "usefulness." Perhaps there is a better way to look at this issue: by approaching both the practical and the purely intellectual as parts of a whole picture rather than mutually exclusive aspects of one's college experience, it is possible to see the connections and interactions that make up the way we perceive the world. After all, the diploma will say "bachelor of arts and sciences."
The best solutions to the world's greatest problems come from creative thought, and nothing fosters creative thinking better than examining issues from different sides and bringing many ideas and fields together. That is the essence of a liberal arts education, and that is why it is still so relevant in today's world.
I wouldn't complain if the next big initiative President Kim puts forth is a little more focused on the arts. But if it sticks with its interdisciplinary goals the new Center is going to greatly improve the College and, hopefully, the world. And that's a very exciting prospect.
