Specialization vs Cross-disciplinary education

Has our education system become too appreciative of the specialists? While a move towards specialization of the curricula promises a more efficient division of labor in the society, it certainly overlooks the dangers associated with narrower outlook. We could hypothesize that the incidence of various international challenges - be it environmental pollution, increasing cancer rates or even wars - can in part be attributed to narrow perspective of the engineers, industrialists, policy makers, diplomats etc. Had we cared about things outside our focus areas, we'd have created more responsible solutions.

But wouldn't going cross-disciplinary vastly diminish the value that experts are able to bring? Well, we certainly need to draw a new line. 'Where' and 'how' still need to be figured out.

Inspiration:
Ted Conference - A call to reinvent liberal arts education

The "I can" bug

Case: Riverside School founded by Kiran Bir Sethi

She advocates that blurring the boundaries between school and life can help bring better and deeper learning. At her school, they observe a three step process to inculcate confidence in the students that they can, in fact, change the world.

• Kids  become AWARE that a change is needed (for example, by making them feel the plight of child laborers by letting them live or observe that lifestyle)
• Kids feel ENABLED to bring a change (for example, by allowing them to wander in the streets and talking to the employers of working children)
• Kids feel EMPOWERED, bitten by the "I Can" bug

This approach not only helps students gain confidence in general, it also motivates them to do better at academics, as proven by the students of Riverside School in the Asset Exam. The change brought about by some kids also attracts greater respect and admiration from adults towards kids. 

Sources:
Ted Conference - Teaching kids to take charge
Riverside School
aProCH - A Protagonist in every Child