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| Me studying abroad in China last summer |
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| I feel right at home in the middle of the campus! |
The video by the RSA really spoke to me, and challenged the way that I think about education. One point that I thought a lot about was how he disliked the fact that children are educated in groups by age, which is an idea that has always made sense to me. If kids should be educated in groups based on ability/intellect instead of by age, then much of the education system needs to be changed. I wonder what the gap between science and art would look like if they kids were encouraged to pursue what they were passionate about, even at a young age, versus forcing them to engage in all kinds of standardized tests that they won't care about.
Snow's article also made me think about how I let ideas of science and art affect me, and how since I have never had a massive interest in either, I have always thought that I wasn't capable of understanding or engaging in either discipline, because they both require a lot of discipline and talent (or so I thought). I look forward to seeing how my perspective, which doesn't fall in either camp, can be used to see this disciplines uniquely.
Citations
Ryan in China, Great Wall. Personal photograph by author. 2014.
Snow, C. P. The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution. New York: Cambridge UP, 1959. Print.
The RSA. "RSA Animate - Changing Education Paradigms." YouTube. YouTube, 14 Oct. 2010. Web. 04 Apr. 2015.
UCLA Campus Map. 2010. Biochemistry Department, Los Angeles.
Vesna, Victoria. "TwoCultures Pt2." YouTube. UC Online, 31 Mar. 2012. Web. 04 Apr. 2015.
Vesna, Victoria. "TwoCultures Part1." YouTube. UC Online, 30 Mar. 2012. Web. 04 Apr. 2015.
Hi Ryan, I liked that you wrote about the RSA video, because I too thought it was really interesting, especially when they talked about the age-based education system. After reading what you wrote about it, it made me think about college and how although most of us go to college right out of high school, still there are older students who ventured back into college at a later age, and we are somewhat considered to be at the same level that way. I guess maybe we are educated by age groups because it was the easiest way to group kids, versus actually testing and looking at every individual's ability and talent.
ReplyDeleteThe RSA video was very interesting, and I have thought about how strange it is that there is one American system for education, and we all go along with it, else we be unsuccessful in life (generically speaking). If it were to be radically changed, would anyone buy into it? Also, good for you for pursuing Bus-Econ. and also focusing in on Accounting. Very valuable skills and concentrations for life. I am more science-y but should take a tip from you and learn more about finances :)
ReplyDeleteHi Ryan,
ReplyDeleteI thoroughly enjoyed the part of your post where you talked about coming from an unbiased perspective seeing as how your discipline falls outside of the "traditional" fields of both art and science.
I'm wondering in this case where these outlying disciplines such as "economics" fall in the spectrum of Art and Science, if at all, seeing as how Arts were the primary form of education when institutions were established and Sciences developed in a separate pillar after the Scientific Revolution.
Do you think that economics falls under either category, or would you still say that it is completely outside of either end of the spectrum? Is there another spectrum of knowledge that is not covered in our binary of Art, Science, and the degrees in between?
Ryan,
ReplyDeleteI find it hard to believe that you feel distanced from the idea of "two cultures" as far as South and North campus goes. Even if you personally do not identify with either culture, it is impossible to escape the theater majors turning their nose up at the scientists and basically every other major commenting about how easy it must be to be a dance or theater major. Even looking at your own friend group should reveal biases. I don't believe humans are even capable of being "unbiased" since all we know is what we learn. Therefore if you don't know about something, you'll be more biased towards what you do know.
As for the RSA video, I too enjoyed the idea of teaching children by ability, but it brings up a lot of questions about judging children at such a young age. Testing would still be necessary and parents would probably be outraged if told their children were not advanced enough to be a certain group of children. Also, with the way humans go through puberty, I don't really think a 6 year old and a twelve year could really function well in a classroom. Their ages require specific needs. But I don't think it is necessary to restructure the educational system like that in order for children to be encouraged to follow their passions. That could be done in today's system while still teaching the basic like math and history. Besides, if children were never forced to take classes like science, art, math, etc, they may never discover that they actually really enjoy it.
I enjoyed reading your opinions,
Sarah