The
Interdisciplinary
World
General Education as a Basis for Career and Service
Herb Childress
Boston Architectural College
Citizenship
The condition of voluntarily taking
responsibility for, and action on behalf
of, a community to which you belong.
Here’s a problem…
• Average atmospheric temperature rise 5 to 8°F
• Sea levels rising 12” to 30”
• River systems salinated further upstream
• Ocean storms more severe and more expansive
• Interior deserts drier and larger
How are we going to
design for a billion
climate refugees?
Here’s a problem…
Every year, the building I work in consumes:
• 7,500,000,000 BTU source energy (3 rail cars of coal)
• 1,100,000 gallons of water
• 3,000 lbs of mail
• 100,000 square feet of cardboard
• 70 computers
• 1,500 pizzas
What are we going to do
with all that waste?
From ONE BUILDING?
Here’s a problem…
That building is obsolete. Replacing it would provide
• 60+% energy savings
• $8M in construction wages
BUT it would consume
• 9,000 CY concrete (maybe Massachusetts, maybe
Korea)
• 15 miles of copper wire (mined in Chile)
• 1,400 tons of rebar (from China or Russia)
mining, finishing, shipping, labor, health, human rights…
How should we think
about sustainable design
when we don’t
understand the inputs?
Problem 1 – Climate Refugees
Problem 2 – Waste Management
Problem 3 – Inputs to Sustainable Design
These are not merely
complicated problems…
Wicked Problems
Some problems are so complex that you
have to be highly intelligent and well
informed just to be undecided about them.
▪ Laurence Peter
Wicked Problems
DEFINITIONAL CHARACTERISTICS:
• Can’t be fully defined, or even described
• Can be stated as symptoms of other
problems
• Diagnosis depends on the definition
• Changes while we wait
Wicked Problems
OPERATIONAL CHARACTERISTICS:
• No fixed body of operations or actions
• Each iteration is unique, limits
knowledge carryover
• Can’t be solved by subdivision into parts
• No meaningful way to practice
Wicked Problems
OUTCOME CHARACTERISTICS:
•
No right answers, though some are better
•
No immediate or ultimate test of
solutions
•
No stopping rule
Wicked Problems
ETHICAL CHARACTERISTICS:
•
Has to be solved by those who made it
•
Harm is done while we wait
•
Inaction is a choice among actions
•
We have no right to be wrong
Here’s a problem…
American suburbs were built for 1950s
conditions:
• Cheap fuel and cheap cars
• An army of stay-at-home mothers
• Huge government investment in infrastructure
• Huge government housing subsidies
• Development policies that devoured farm and
wild lands
Those conditions no longer exist.
Can we intensify existing
suburban forms?
How do you “infill” wide roads,
acres of parking, and vast (and
expedient) single-story buildings?
Here’s a problem…
City
Peak
population
2010
population
Change
Detroit
1,849,600
713,800
-61.2%
Saginaw
98,300
55,200
-43.8%
Flint
196,000
111,500
-43.1%
Youngstown
168,300
72,400
-57.2%
Toledo
383,800
316,200
-17.6%
Gary
178,300
80,300
-55.0%
These cities have smaller and poorer populations, which
means their tax bases are shot… but the same amount of
roads to pave and plow, sewers and water mains to maintain,
land area to protect with police and fire service.
Can we physically shrink
an existing city?
Or evacuate it altogether?
Here’s a problem…
At any given moment, about 3,500,000
Americans are homeless, temporarily or
permanently.
In 2011, 7,500,000 American houses and
2,000,000 commercial buildings were
vacant or abandoned.
Is squatting a
civil right?
Research questions can live
within a discipline.
The problems of the
world do not.
Three Components to Every Career
School is very
good at this; it’s
the focus of
Content
almost every
Knowledge
classroom.
Three Components to Every Career
Content
Knowledge
School is not so
good at this; it’s
rarely part of
Logistical
learning
settings.
Knowledge
Three Components to Every Career
Content
Knowledge
Logistical
Knowledge
Strategy &
Purpose
We’re not very good at this at all.
We assume people know why they want what they want
Three Components to Every Career
The
Major
Content
Knowledge
Logistical
Knowledge
Strategy &
Purpose
Liberal Education
The
Internship
Wicked Learning
Purpose
Logistic
Content
Provisional Definitions
Interdisciplinary
Urgency and Immediacy
Solution Must Be Invented,
not Carried Over
• Work Must Be Collaborative,
Not Division of Labor
• Work Must Include Those
Affected, Not Just “Experts”
• Requires Ongoing
Engagement, not “Solve and
Walk Away”
•
•
•
•
Leadership
The characteristic of naming oneself
as implicated and responsible for
resolving a problem, even while
knowing our own incapacity and
unworthiness
Where Do Leaders Come From?
Manipulative self-interest
How can I frame
this problem in a
way that makes it
clear that I should
be given power or
money to solve it?
Where Do Leaders Come From?
Manipulative self-interest
Humility and reluctance
Well, nobody else
is doing anything,
and it’s not going
to fix itself… I
guess I’d better get
started.
Where Do Leaders Come From?
Manipulative self-interest
Humility and reluctance
Recruitment &
appointment
You know who’d
be GREAT to
help us out with
this…
Where Do Leaders Come From?
Manipulative self-interest
Humility and reluctance
Recruitment &
appointment
In all cases, leadership is
being prepared to say “yes”
when an opportunity arises.
Preparing for Serendipity?
How can we prepare our students
to be prepared to say “yes” to a
broader array of diverse problems?
Preparing for Serendipity?
If we can help our students
understand how to approach
wicked problems, they can do
anything, in any field!
How NOT to Prepare for Wickedness
Year One: General Ed
Year Two: General Ed
Year Three: Major
Summer Internship
Year Four: Major
How to Prepare for Wickedness
Little
problem
We give them some small
dilemma, and offer different
ways of looking at, thinking
about, and acting upon it.
•
•
•
Low stakes, but still real
Relatively low complexity
Possibly approached
individually
How to Prepare for Wickedness
Bigger
problem
More ways of looking at,
thinking about, and
acting upon it.
•
•
•
Higher stakes, social
need
Increased complexity
Larger teams
How to Prepare for Wickedness
Ginormous
Problem!
The kinds of
problems that we
exercise our own
professional
judgment upon
The nature of the
intervention
demands the tools
Sandlot Baseball as
“just-in-time learning”
They may be terrible, but at least they’re playing
the game. They may even learn to love it.
The Rigidity of Disciplines
To a man with a hammer…
Our Fields
as we Teach Them
Our Fields
as we Experience Them
Wicked Problems
Require Fluidity
Don’t go into this
fight with only one
way of thinking!
Don’t just follow
procedure.
Do what you have
to do!
2.2a. Baccalaureate programs engage students in an
integrated course of study of sufficient breadth and depth to
prepare them for work, citizenship, and life-long learning.
These programs ensure the development of core
competencies including, but not limited to, written and oral
communication, quantitative reasoning, information literacy,
and critical thinking. In addition, baccalaureate programs
actively foster creativity, innovation, an appreciation for
diversity, ethical and civic responsibility, civic engagement,
and the ability to work with others. Baccalaureate programs
also ensure breadth for all students in cultural and aesthetic,
social and political, and scientific and technical knowledge
expected of educated persons. Undergraduate degrees
include significant in-depth study in a given area of
knowledge (typically described in terms of a program or
major).
2.2a. Baccalaureate programs engage students in an
integrated course of study of sufficient breadth and depth to
prepare them for work, citizenship, and life-long learning.
These programs ensure the development of core
competencies including, but not limited to, written and oral
communication, quantitative reasoning, information literacy,
and critical thinking. In addition, baccalaureate programs
actively foster creativity, innovation, an appreciation for
diversity, ethical and civic responsibility, civic engagement,
and the ability to work with others. Baccalaureate programs
also ensure breadth for all students in cultural and aesthetic,
social and political, and scientific and technical knowledge
expected of educated persons. Undergraduate degrees
include significant in-depth study in a given area of
knowledge (typically described in terms of a program or
major).
2.2a. Baccalaureate programs engage students in an
integrated course of study of sufficient breadth and depth to
prepare them for work, citizenship, and life-long learning.
These programs ensure the development of core
competencies including, but not limited to, written and oral
communication, quantitative reasoning, information literacy,
and critical thinking. In addition, baccalaureate programs
actively foster creativity, innovation, an appreciation for
diversity, ethical and civic responsibility, civic engagement,
and the ability to work with others. Baccalaureate programs
also ensure breadth for all students in cultural and aesthetic,
social and political, and scientific and technical knowledge
expected of educated persons. Undergraduate degrees
include significant in-depth study in a given area of
knowledge (typically described in terms of a program or
major).
2.2a. Baccalaureate programs engage students in an
integrated course of study of sufficient breadth and depth to
prepare them for work, citizenship, and life-long learning.
These programs ensure the development of core
competencies including, but not limited to, written and oral
communication, quantitative reasoning, information literacy,
and critical thinking. In addition, baccalaureate programs
actively foster creativity, innovation, an appreciation for
diversity, ethical and civic responsibility, civic engagement,
and the ability to work with others. Baccalaureate programs
also ensure breadth for all students in cultural and aesthetic,
social and political, and scientific and technical knowledge
expected of educated persons. Undergraduate degrees
include significant in-depth study in a given area of
knowledge (typically described in terms of a program or
major).
2.2a. Baccalaureate programs engage students in an
integrated course of study of sufficient breadth and depth to
prepare them for work, citizenship, and life-long learning.
These programs ensure the development of core
competencies including, but not limited to, written and oral
communication, quantitative reasoning, information literacy,
and critical thinking. In addition, baccalaureate programs
actively foster creativity, innovation, an appreciation for
diversity, ethical and civic responsibility, civic engagement,
and the ability to work with others. Baccalaureate programs
also ensure breadth for all students in cultural and aesthetic,
social and political, and scientific and technical knowledge
expected of educated persons. Undergraduate degrees
include significant in-depth study in a given area of
knowledge (typically described in terms of a program or
major).
2.2a. Baccalaureate programs engage students in an
integrated course of study of sufficient breadth and depth to
prepare them for work, citizenship, and life-long learning.
These programs ensure the development of core
competencies including, but not limited to, written and oral
communication, quantitative reasoning, information literacy,
and critical thinking. In addition, baccalaureate programs
actively foster creativity, innovation, an appreciation for
diversity, ethical and civic responsibility, civic engagement,
and the ability to work with others. Baccalaureate programs
also ensure breadth for all students in cultural and aesthetic,
social and political, and scientific and technical knowledge
expected of educated persons. Undergraduate degrees
include significant in-depth study in a given area of
knowledge (typically described in terms of a program or
major).
Research questions can live
within a discipline.
The problems of the
world do not.
Women
marginalized,
minimized,
held back
Theology
Social Sciences
Women
marginalized,
minimized,
held back
Political Science
History
The First Wicked Major!
Women’s
Studies
More possibilities
Environmental
Justice
More possibilities
Sustainable
Foodways
More possibilities
Industrial
Renewal
More possibilities
Prediction
Studies
More possibilities
MicroEnterprise
Studies
In all of these cases and others, the
role of General Education is not to
stand apart, to offer “breadth”
without application.
General Education offers us
wickedness — the ability to see
problems in their full complexity, and
to imagine a greater array of
solutions.