GENERAL EDUCATION FOR APPLIED SCIENTISTS

The danger inherent in our over‐specialized system of education has now become a fashionable theme. There is already a considerable literature on the subject; and eminent figures as different as Sir Charles Snow and the Earl of Verulam have called the nation's attention to the problem. There can be no doubt about the gravity or the extent of the problem; for many would agree with Sir Charles Snow in his conviction that ‘the intellectual life of western society is increasingly being split into two polar groups.’ At one pole there are the scientists whose intensely specialized education encourages them to neglect, and at times to despise, all forms of knowledge outside the strictly scientific. At the other pole is the equally dangerous specialization of the arts student whose single‐minded pursuit of Eng. Lit. or Med. Hist. encourages him to ignore and belittle the great scientific achievements that have shaped the world in which he lives. Increasing specialization at an earlier age in our schools and an almost total concentration on the chosen ‘subject’ in the university make it possible for students to graduate without once having looked into any of the scientific discoveries of our time or once having pondered, for example, the philosophical or political ideas that have shaped our civilization.