HOORAY for Research Week! Banners across Grounds proudly proclaim the celebration of a newly valued tradition at this institution. Pale-skinned, sleep-deprived students emerge out of their caves in the library stacks and laboratories about Grounds with an invitation to be proud in their accomplishment and to share the fruit of their research with the University community. Naturally, congratulations are in order, but in the midst of the jubilation there is cause for caution. Does this new emphasis on research threaten the academic traditions of this liberal (small "L") institution? A more traditional school of thought might assert that it is premature for undergraduates to be encouraged to specialize in an in-depth, guided inquiry at this stage in their academic careers. This antagonism is worth exploring in a day when research is all too easily held as a universal good -- noting undergraduate research, the construction of new research facilities and priorities in faculty hiring practices -- without any regard for competing views of the ideal system of education.
In the interest of full disclosure, I should mention that as an undergraduate I have conducted (and am currently engaged in) independent research. This column seeks not to devalue independent research, which has a host of valuable qualities that deserve being mentioned. First, many of the preeminent scholastic recognitions weigh independent research heavily. The Truman, Marshall and Rhodes Scholarships are all invaluable opportunities that certainly open countless doors for their winners. Building new research facilities brings with them new investment in the community and financial benefits for the University, as well as the potential for cutting-edge learning opportunities for students. Ensuring that instructors are also continuing to pursue innovative research certainly has benefits to the students, offering fresh information in their field while continuing to explore the discipline. An institution that encourages a fare of broad, liberal education to its students is not mutually exclusive to a high institutional valuation of independent research and ongoing, innovative discovery. Yet, it is crucially important that school administrators not abandon the principles of the Academy for those of the Petri dish.
Consider many of the recent capital projects that the University has recently completed or is currently undertaking: two new medical research buildings, an improvement to the biological laboratories in Gilmer Hall and a new nanotechnology building for the School of Engineering. While some of these projects offer additional space for instruction and will offer unique opportunities for student research, the magnitude of these investments belies a subtle new direction for the University, in general.
There is little doubt that the schools need all the help they can receive from new funding sources, one of which are research buildings that attract federal grants and potentially valuable product spin-offs or applied technology. There are also benefits to the educational experience, as mentioned above. The danger arrives when proclaimed value of independent research then supplants the more traditional emphasis on a broad liberal education that samples widely from many disciplines.
As the area requirements in the College would indicate, somewhere along the line, the group designing the undergraduate curriculum made up their minds that it was vitally important that all incoming students have the opportunity to benefit from a eclectic selection of coursework during the course of their undergraduate education. Sure, there would be time to declare a major and go more in depth into a topic -- few first years make it into 500-level seminars -- but the formative semesters at the University would be spent getting a taste of lots of different things, whether the student liked it or not. Prolonged study of the nuanced nature of a special interest might be reserved for graduate study. However, today many third and even second year students are encouraged to apply for a host of undergraduate research awards so that they might specialize earlier than later. Indeed, realizing your passion before your peers might get you a hefty chunk of change and a leg up on the rest of the class. But is this really the peer pressure that is most appropriate for inquisitive, developing undergraduate minds?
Independent research is not a bad thing. Quite the contrary: There are many advantages to engaging in a guided inquiry that stimulates the mind and fosters thinking outside existing scholarship. But an academic culture that promotes a race to specialization leaves something important behind. This institution is special for innumerable qualities, one of which is the deliberate emphasis on a balanced, liberal education that prepares minds for a lifetime of learning and intellectual inquiries. The administration should be wary of creating masters students out of undergraduates. This is what graduate degrees are for.
Preston Lloyd's column appears Thursdays in The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at plloyd@cavalierdaily.com.
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