先週夏学期の授業が終わり，はやくも今週から来年教える同じ授業の準備を始めました．今学期は大学１年生の化学を教えたのですが，来年に向けて，別にあった生物の授業と，今回教えた化学の授業を統合する改変があるようです。研究も早く軌道に乗せたいのですが，なかなかそれ以外の業務が多いです．
大学関係者では，このような分野の境目のことを「学際的（interdisciplinary）」と呼びます．学部レベルの授業を学際的にしていくのはボストンでは流行りでしたし，予想できる流れです．日本のケースは詳しくないですが，学部の学際教育の面白い取り組みなどがあれば知りたいです．
研究には problem-driven か discipline-driven の双方向がある，とは昔のボスが言ってましたが，教育にもその双方向性があると考えても良いのでしょう．今回は横文字が多くて申し訳ないのですが，演繹と帰納という切り口と大枠は同じですし，market in と product out も多分同じ，top down と bottom up も文脈によっては同じですし，具体・抽象の関係も似たようなものです．自分に馴染みある言葉だと理解しやすいと思います．
ステレオタイプになりますが，MBA と PhD は problem-driven と discipline-driven の良い対比だと思います．ボストンにいた時「PhD コースで研究してます」と話すと MBA の人にいつも聞かれたのが「その研究って何の役に立つの」という質問でした．それ自体は予定調和なやり取りで，自分が「役に立つ」と思ったことを話すようにしていました．一方で PhD が MBA に一言もの申すのもボストンの予定調和でしたので付け加えると，「何の役に立つか」という質問自体が，非常に MBA 的な発想だと思っていました．「役に立つ文脈」が先に決まっていて，日々の活動が行われているのが実務家でそれを反映しているのかと思いました．対照的な考え方が，discipline（専門性）の知の積み重ねに貢献する PhD の考え方であり，それが役に立とうが立たまいが掘り下げるというのが，伝統的な存在意義だったのだと思います．
もちろん PhD 側の人にとって，自分の研究が「何の役に立つか」を考えることの意義も付け加えておきます．もし自分が世界超一流の数学者とかでないのなら「美しいからやる」「面白いからやる」以上のことが言えた方がわかりやすいと思いますし，研究の一部分は税金を元にした経済活動なので，そういう意味での説明責任はあるのかもしれません．ただ，そればかりにとらわれるのもつまらないですよね．実務家と研究者，どちらの立ち位置の人も必要で，それが社会全体としてのチームワークなのだとも思います．
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昔考えたことがあったのですが，大学教育が職業訓練教育になっている現状，例えば problem-driven の大学１年のコース，何でも良いんですが「携帯電話」とか「DNA 検査」みたいな包括的なトピックに関する問題を選び，１年間かけて議論することはできるでしょうか．実際のケースから 既存の discipline に落とし込む形で，例えば「DNA 検査」に関連付けたところから話を広げ，バイオサイエンス，統計，医学，生物倫理，法学，経済学，デザイン，マーケティングなどのイントロを学ぶのが目的です．そして，そういう広いスペクトラムのどの立ち位置に立ちたいのですか，と問うた上で，専攻を決めてもらう，みたいなこともできるかと思いました．同じ問題のステークホルダーとなる立場を広く考慮に入れて，問題の複雑さを学び，立場の異なる人の「それって何の役に立つの」の答えを想像する一助とすることが目的です．これは problem-driven の極端な形のコースの提案ですが，こういうのにインターンシップなどを混ぜれば，より実務への応用が見える形のカリキュラムになるかもしれません．
一方でこういうアプローチは，禅問答的ですが，幅広さがもたらす偏狭さがあります．トレードオフになるのは，それぞれの discipline の深さであり，どれだけ文脈を具体例から離して考えることができるかの抽象レベルです．前述した MBA と PhD の対比ではないですが，discipline として何かを深く掘り下げるのもまた意味のあるトレーニングです．新しい問題にぶつかった時に，「どのようなことを考えれば良いのか」を考えるのには，１つの分野での深い洞察があると便利だと思うからです．結局こういう議論は「じゃあ大学って何のためにあるの」という答えのない問いに一定の答えを出さないと収束しませんが，私は大学は職業訓練学校以上のものがあると思っています．昨今の学際的（interdisciplinary）なカリキュラムデザインの趨勢も一理ある中，どういうところに理想を置いてコースを作って行くのかを考えるのも面白そうです。今回の仕事に関しては biology と chemistry の融合という academic のコースデザインですから，ある程度方向性は明確ですが，もう少し一般的な問題提起としてもまた興味深いと思います。
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