Why Interdisciplinary Studies May Help Your Child Keep His/Her Job

When Steve Jobs stepped down as C.E.O. of Apple, I, like so many others, read the many stories about the man and the spirit of innovation he so perfectly reflected. Steve Lohr's article in The New York Times was of particular interest as it cited the 1997 book "The Innovator's Dilemma" that puts forward the concept of disruptive innovation. Lohr lists five traits of disruptive innovators – "questioning, experimenting, observing, associating, and networking." He defines associating as "the ability to make idea-producing connections by linking concepts from different disciplines – intellectual mash-ups."

Interdisciplinary programs are "hot" in education these days, but their value as mechanisms for preparing students to think in synergistic and creative ways can be quite limited. The prototypical interdisciplinary course involves studying a period of history, then reading the literature of that period, and perhaps looking at the art and music. What's lacking is creative synthesis and integration! Students are not forced to use the knowledge and ways of thinking from multiple disciplines to answer a big question that inherently requires using an interdisciplinary approach.

Rivers' interdisciplinary studies courses are different; they focus on these big questions, drawing on depth of knowledge across disciplines to create meaningful connections and build our students’ skill sets. Faculty members from various departments collaborate, visiting classes to present and discuss material that is part of their areas of expertise. As IDS chair and Rivers English teacher Julian Willard says, "the key to a successful IDS course is the formulation of the big question, the answer to which requires pulling creatively from multiple disciplines."

On "Meet the Press" a few weeks ago Tom Friedman talked about a 21st century employee survival skill: the ability to continuously re-imagine one's job in order to bring increased value to the company. Interdisciplinary studies – when done right – forces students to practice "association." It forces students to synthesize in creative and innovative ways, thus allowing them to practice this critical 21st century thinking skill so vital to enhancing value.