Week 1 - Two Cultures

Visual that shows how education may allow individuals to fight for what they believe in.
(Courtesy of: https://tcedfair.org/2015/05/)

As an aspiring social justice science educator in the environment of secondary education, it is my duty to instill the belief that knowledge is freedom and the key to freedom is accessible through education. As David Bohm said, the quality of creativity is important in education and is acquired through the application of various academic cultures. This is a constant reminder to myself that it is important to build a diverse curriculum to encourage students to practice a diverse set of skills. 

       In the setting of my own education at UCLA, the physical divide between “north campus” and “south campus” strongly supports the idea that there are groups that conform and believe in the idea that arts and science has a division as mentioned by C.P. Snow in “Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution” and in the video “Changing Education Paradigms” by The RSA.

As a life science student who has focused on completing his undergraduate courses early, I personally do feel very disconnected from individuals who are in the arts and humanity, in fact most of my friends are biology students, not only because we may have classes together, but it’s just easier to hang out because our classes are more likely to be closer in proximity.

           

(Self guided tour map from UCLA Undergraduate Admission with the additional edits of circling of North and South campus done by me!)

            The readings made me more cognizant of the different cultures of academia, and made me realize that students entering into UCLA for their undergraduate education are in ways forced to choose to focus on one culture. There are different admission requirements for the different department of arts, College of Letters and Science, nursing, and UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science. The third culture of technology, intersects most with engineering, and I often observe well-rounded students in the high school setting do tend to go for the “in between”, which is technology, as described by Dr. Vesna.

This is a cell structure project that students often enjoy doing, sometimes they bake a cake then make the internal cell components with icing! (Courtesy of: diy.org)

           

My excitement for this course stems from the fact that I believe this course will help me better understand the three cultures of art, science, and technology in our society, which will allow me to better provide the proper tools and guidance for students when it is their time to choose the culture that will be their focus in higher education. 

REFERENCES:

Bohm, D. “On Creativity.” Leonardo, vol. 1, no. 2, 1968, pp. 137–149., www.jstor.org/stable/1571951.

Snow, Charles Percy. “Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution.” Reading. 1959. New York: Cambridge UP, 1961. Print.

The RSA. "RSA ANIMATE: Changing Education Paradigms." Online video clip. Youtube. YouTube, 14 October 2010. Web. 7 April 2017.

Vesna, Victoria. “Toward a Third Culture: Being in Between.” Leonardo 34.2 (2001): 121-25. Web.

Wilson, Stephen. “Myths and Confusion in Thinking About Art/Science/Technology” College Art Association Meetings. New York. 2000. Web.