In this, I mean something simple. Most of us know it more commonly as “tunnel vision.” Allen Repko describes the idea of silo perspective as “the tendency to see the university and the larger world through the narrow lens of [one’s] major.” People
do this all the time. Culturally, people tend to see the world only with the mindset they were raised with. This can cause problems when interacting with other cultures.
Living on a college campus, I see silo perspective every day. Most notably as of late has been the political views of many students here. The common mindset is “I saw this online. It must be true” and they roll with it. No further research is sought after. Students hear “free tuition” and they do not think of any repercussions but instead only see how they can benefit.
Silo perspective as Repko would like us to think about it is more in terms of academia. As we grow up, we go through multiple stages of schooling. As a college professor of mine, Brad Allen, has put it, in the first few stages of school we learn a little about a lot of things. As we go through the stages, we start to learn more about a smaller range of topics until eventually we learn absolutely everything about only one thing. It is this exact process that creates silo perspective within academia. We are taught in a singular discipline as we grow, therefore we only think within that single discipline. The goal of interdisciplinarity is to break this pattern. Interdisciplinary Studies professors hope to provide the future generations with the ability to look at problems from multiple disciplines in order to more fully grasp the solution. Maybe someday the silo perspective will grow to engulf the entire farm.
References
Repko, Allen F., Rick Szostak, Michelle Phillips Buchberger. Introduction to Interdisciplinary Studies. California: SAGE Publications, Inc., 2014. Print.
Gary Jungling, tunnel, 2009
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Brandon Rich 