When thinking of what I enjoy more
when it comes to art and science I would have to go with art, it’s just nicer
to look at, take figure on for example. I have never thought of science and art
as two cultures that are working against each other until we read Two Cultures. When I was in middle
school we had art class and science class, the two were always separated but
equally valued, the curriculum was meant to be equal in all subjects (1) but
this changed when I got to college. The arts to me are language arts classes,
history and your traditional paining and drawing. Science on the other had is
math, engineering and technology. To relate this to UCLA is quite easy, all you
have to do is look at our campus as seen in Figure
Two. UCLA students refer to our campus in two parts, North Campus and South
Campus. While they are both part of our campus they teach two entirely
different things. North Campus is responsible for teaching students what would
be considered the arts like English and DESMA while South Campus is responsible
for the sciences like math and geology which are housed there. This did not
have much effect on me until the reading, and then it made perfect sense. If you
asked me to tell you anything about geology I would not be able to help you out
at all and the same would go for the geology students when asked about history.
This should not be the case. I think we should be able to specialize in what we
want to but I also believe that we should be well rounded. Other countries have
mastered this but the US is having a hard time with it. We currently rank 15 in
the world as to how good our education is according to info.com (2) this is
also easily seen in Figure Three. This
seems a bit strange to me when we are one of if not the most powerful country
in the world. While we are ranked a bit low in education we come in second in
spending per student (3). This does not make sense. The leaders of this country
could do themselves a favor and read Two
Cultures. We should equally value all subjects so we come out to be better-educated
people. I’ve heard many politicians say we need to change education by spending
money on it when the answer is if we change how we are teaching we can spend
less money and educate the students in a better way.
 |
| Figure One |
 |
| Figure Two |
 |
| Figure Three |
1. http://curriculum.princetonk12.org/curriculum/Middle_School/
2. http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0923110.html
3. http://super-economy.blogspot.com/2010/12/amazing-truth-about-pisa-scores-usa.html
Bibliography in order of appearance (Pictures)
1. http://montessorimuddle.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Street-Art-by-David-Walker-in- London-England.jpg
2. http://www.csup.ucla.edu/newsroom-events/UCLACampusMap.jpg/image_view_fullscreen
3. http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0923110.html
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your comment about how we "should equally value all subjects so we come out to be better-educated people." A well rounded education in both the arts and the sciences provide the creativity and technicality needed for a person to enter the world and to do something productive with their lives. Each kind of knowledge, artistic and scientific, has its own benefits and pitfalls.
ReplyDeleteNice post! I really get where you're coming from. As a UCLA transfer student, I too was struck especially hard when I arrived here by how divided campus was. I like how you weaved in the issue of education expenditure and your theory about how more combining of the arts and science might increase educational outcomes is very interesting. It reminded me of the RSA video on education and the semi-radical ideas posed there. I really agree with what you said towards the end of your post, that "the leaders of this country could do themselves a favor and read Two Cultures." There's no point dividing all these fields up when they are so clearly linked and have so much influence on each other.
ReplyDeleteBlake, very relative post. I concur with the idea of being enthralled in the arts from a young age. I agree with you in the sense of visual appeal. Specifically, I like the idea of valuing both of these "two cultures" on the same level. If politicians spent time and investments in both types of life, then the government would be much more well-rounded. This generalist perspective could develop some of the brightest minds in our country and help the nation benefit everyone. A more holistic approach in the nation would have a very positive impact on both arts and sciences.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with your post. I think your comment: "if we change how we are teaching we can spend less money and educate the students in a better way" is very true. I have never looked at the issue in that way, and this post really opened my eyes to it. I also really liked how you supported your claims with statistics. If we all had the outlook you have, our educational system would be much better off.
ReplyDelete