The Loss of the University by Wendell Berry

THE PREDICAMENT of literature within the university is not fundamentally different from the predicament of any other discipline, which is not fundamentally different from the predicament of language. That is, the various disciplines have ceased to speak to each other; they have become too specialized, and this overspecialization, this separation, of the disciplines has been enabled and enforced by the specialization of their languages. As a result, the modern university has grown, not according to any unifying principle, like an expanding universe, but according to the principle of miscellaneous accretion, like a furniture storage business.

I assume that there is a degree of specialization that is unavoidable because concentration involves a narrowing of attention; we can only do one thing at a time. I assume further that there is a degree of specialization that is desirable because good work depends upon sustained practice. If we want the best work to be done in teaching or writing or stone masonry or farming, then we must arrange for that work to be done by proven master workers, people who are prepared for the work by long and excellent practice.