Academic Specialization, Double Majoring, and the Threat to Breadth in Academic Knowledge

Autor/inn/en	Pitt, Richard; Pirtle, Whitney N. Laster; Metzger, Ashely Noel
Titel	Academic Specialization, Double Majoring, and the Threat to Breadth in Academic Knowledge
Quelle	In: Journal of General Education, 66 (2017) 3-4, S.166-191 (26 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0021-3667
Schlagwörter	Specialization; Majors (Students); Intellectual Disciplines; Liberal Arts; Undergraduate Students; Course Selection (Students); General Education; Professional Education; Educational Benefits; Business Administration Education; Engineering Education; Humanities; Social Sciences; Natural Sciences; College Curriculum; College Applicants; Graduate Study; Research Universities; Human Capital + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Arbeitsteilige Spezialisierung; Geisteswissenschaften; Course selection; Student; Students; Kurswahl; Allgemein bildendes Schulwesen; Allgemeinbildung; Berufsausbildung; Bildungsertrag; Ingenieurausbildung; Humanwissenschaften; Social science; Sozialwissenschaften; Gesellschaftswissenschaften; Naturwissenschaften; College applications; Studienbewerber; Aufbaustudium; Graduiertenstudium; Hauptstudium; Forschungseinrichtung; Humankapital
Abstract	This article examines the relationship between academic specialization and student exposure to a range of academic domains of knowledge. It uses a concentration measure--the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index--to investigate whether students who choose single majors or double major are more or less concentrated in nine domains of knowledge most postsecondary institutions consider to be the intellectual core of a liberal arts general education. The results, based on an analysis of 240 undergraduate transcripts, indicate that--relative to single majoring--choosing similar majors (hyperspecialization) significantly concentrates student learning and choosing very different majors (hypospecialization) leads to more breadth. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2020/1/01