cut across sth.困难

One reason why it is hard to design and teach such courses is that they cut across the insistence by top American universities that liberal-arts education and professional education should be kept separate, taught in different schools. Many students experience both varieties. Although more than half of Harvard undergraduates end up in law, medicine or business, future doctors and lawyers must study a non-specialist liberal-arts degree before embarking on a professional qualification.

此类课程难以设计和讲授的原因之一在于，它们与美国顶尖大学的一贯主张相抵触，即博雅教育和职业教育应当分开，由不同的学院讲授。许多学生两种教育都会经历。虽然超过一半的哈佛本科生最终从事法律、医学或商业，但未来的医生和律师在攻读职业资格之前，必须先读一个非专业性的文科学位。