“What’s your major?” This is the question that every freshman college student is asked over and over again, and for me, it’s one that usually requires clarification. When I tell people that I’m majoring in Politics, Philosophy and Economics (PPE), many people, especially family members and other freshmen, respond with something along the lines of “wow, you’re doing three majors?” I then have to clarify that no, PPE is just one major. I’m not (quite) that crazy.
However, even upon clarification, many are still confused about how so many different subjects could possibly be a part of the same program and why anyone would want to pursue such a major. To outsiders, it may sound unnecessary and overwhelming. But that couldn’t be further from the truth: an interdisciplinary major can actually be less overwhelming than the alternative. Having several topics combined into one major has allowed me to take courses that I love, that I find interesting and that actually go towards my degree. If I were just a political science major, for example, I never would have had the time to take any captivating philosophy classes. My journalism minor and all my extracurriculars would simply not have fit into my schedule.
If you’re one of those students who is trying to have as many minors as humanly possible or is attempting a triple major, applying for an interdisciplinary major could be incredibly freeing. If you have three different subjects, a good reason for wanting to pursue them and the ability to get your program approved, an interdisciplinary major allows you to take a wider variety of classes without having a ridiculous amount of credit hours.
Not only is an interdisciplinary major an equivalent amount of coursework to other majors, but interdisciplinary studies in general are at the heart of what it means to be a student of the liberal arts. The liberal arts are all about bringing together the different areas of our lives and all the various ways of looking at and understanding our world. The liberal arts take the natural sciences, the arts, the social sciences, history and everything in between and combine them under one goal: the desire to more fully understand the world around us. With a Christian liberal arts education, this goal only increases in importance. We try to understand the created world in order to better understand the one who created it and to be better stewards of the gifts he has given us.
Whether you decide to pursue an interdisciplinary major or not, we should all be striving to understand our world more fully. Whether through a major, extracurriculars or electives, crossing the traditional boundaries of our preferred subject should be viewed as a way to gain valuable insight, not as pointless extra work. Calvin, as a liberal arts school, already requires all students to take courses outside of their field and encourages them to interact with students from other disciplines. Certain programs prioritize that more than others, but it is ultimately an essential part of a Calvin education, which I believe should be given even more emphasis.
