Institutional dichotomy, according to John Wolfenden (responsible for the

Wolfenden Report The Report of the Departmental Committee on Homosexual Offences and Prostitution (better known as the Wolfenden report, after Sir John Wolfenden, the chairman of the committee) was published in the United Kingdom on 4 September 1957 after a suc ...

), in his essay ''The Gap — The Bridge'', states that the dichotomization of intellectual disciplines by

education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty ...

al institutions, specifically collegiate institutions, is to blame for the communication gap between specialists in different fields. Forced to pursue contrasting disciplines in college, students diverge from the broad educational background established in high school and pursue narrower studies. As a result, these students lose contact with the shared basis of their education as they venture into separate abstract studies. In effect, the communication gap of collegiate students widens as they become saturated with a curriculum of abstractions that relate to a single area of study. For instance, a college freshman chooses mathematics as his field of study while another chooses

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

. As they study, the two students become grossly out of touch as they adapt to new languages which will soon serve as a code in their future careers. The mathematics student becomes consumed by symbols and numbers while the English student immerses himself in a sea of classical

literary style In literature, writing style is the manner of expressing thought in language characteristic of an individual, period, school, or nation. As Bryan Ray notes, however, style is a broader concern, one that can describe "readers' relationships with, t ...

s and grammatical mechanics. Consequently, the students soon become ill-equipped to communicate with each other. The mathematics student now becomes "illiterate" by standards of the English major and the English major becomes "innumerate" by standards of the mathematics major. Because knowledge is increasing, some fragmentation of disciplines is inevitable. The problem with fragmentation is that students are forced to live in ignorance of studies outside of their fields.

See also