Week 1 - Two Cultures
The two cultures within the world in the perspective of this class, are the arts and the sciences. The separation between the two are not widely talked about enough, but I feel as though adding the arts into the STEM category to make it STEAM is important to recognize as we talk about the differing worlds as two when it should just be one. The perspective of C.P. Snow of the how schools should be centered around the science and the arts, as both are important to "building bridges" and make progress in benefitting society. When we think of the two cultures in this way, why would we want to think of art and science as two separate entities? This question and idea has changed my perspective a lot in the past week.
Birds Eye View of Campus
When I was walking around campus this past week, I realized the clear divide between North and South campus. Opening my eyes and seeing campus through a different perspective was so interesting for me to just now realize two years into being at UCLA. As a humanities major, more specifically psychology, I find myself typically having class around North campus, being surrounded by the same people, and never really taking into account that there are so many other people on campus who I never cross paths with because we are so clearly divided.
Young Hall in South Campus
This perspective changed my thinking because I was so invested in my own routes to class, that I never stopped to think about the differences between the different architecture and makeup of the STEM buildings versus the humanities buildings. I think that now when you look around and see all of the different aesthetics to the buildings that you have class in everyday versus the buildings you never have class in, you begin to see that there is an unspoken, yet very prominent difference between the STEM buildings and the humanities buildings and their cultures.
Royce Hall in North Campus
Works Cited:
Snow, C.P. The Two Cultures And The Scientific Revolution. Cambridge University Press, 1961.
Spotswood, Samantha. “Being a UCLA North Campus Girl in a UCLA South Campus World.” College Magazine, 18 Oct. 2018, www.collegemagazine.com/ucla-north-vs-south-campus/.
Vesna, Victoria. “Toward a Third Culture: Being in Between.” Leonardo, vol. 34, no. 2, 2001, pp. 121
125., https://doi.org/10.1162/002409401750184672.
Vesna, Victoria, “Lecture Part III: Two Cultures.” Youtube, Mar. 2012,
Hi Ciena! Being from the opposite of campus as a south campus major, I can totally feel the divide between our campuses. I usually try to take a non-STEM class every quarter and I love to see the difference between the majors and especially appreciate classes where different majors are recognized. I love to also walk around and study in North Campus better, because you like you said, our architecture is so different between our campuses. North Campus definitely has more character and peace to it while South Campus is very structured upon uniformity and keeping students focused in class. I do hope we can have something like STEAM in future education systems.
ReplyDeleteHi Ciena! I really liked how you mentioned adding the A into STEM to make it STEAM. The photos you included in your post are a perfect representation of the contrast of buildings between North and South campus. I am primarily a South Campus major and I have to say sometimes walking around and seeing the bland buildings of South Campus makes me wish I was a North Campus major. I also agree that both the arts and sciences are bridges that make progress in benefitting society.
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