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Week One: Two Cultures



South Campus vs. North Campus
C.P. Snow in his essay “The Two Cultures and the  Scientific Revolution” is the first person to have really come forward with the idea that there are two cultures. These two realms are completely separate from each other. There is art and there is science. This idea is that if you are in science you cannot be in art and vice versa. C.P. Snow has the perspective that universities are the cause or at least the main perpetrator of the this separation. This argument is something very relatable and can be seen at UCLA with the obvious separation between art related majors and classes versus science related majors and  classes. There is the separation based on the type of degree you receive (B.A. or B.S) as well as the physical place on campus you go to class (South or North Campus).  



Left Brain vs. Right Brain People
Professor Vesna discusses the education system in “Two Cultures: Lecture Three” and says that there is a paradigm and system we currently have that perpetuates this divide and is seen at institutions such as UCLA. Our current education system was built in a very different time and therefore isn’t working how it should today. This necessary paradigm shift is  discussed in further depth by Ken Robinson as he argues both cultural and economic reasons that leave the education system in the poor shape it is in. 



New building at University of Pennsylvania. 
Buildings are getting newer and more modern 
but there is still the same education system 
that has not evolved. 
This perspective of two different cultures of thinking and people can leave effects and actually change who people are or become. Professor Vesna in“Two Cultures: Lecture 2” discusses stereotypes and leaves people in these prefixed categories or archetypes. She uses the example of either being a Picasso or an Einstein and having no in between. This can be confusing for people who have talents or abilities in both as they feel the need or pressure to become one or the other.  

The talk with Steven Pinker really stood out this week. Pinker says “social science takes place in the assumption that ideas, values, and norms float in some layer disconnected from flesh, blood, and brains.” This quote, just like Vesna and Snow, recognizes this separation. and calls out those in “art” culture for grounding their beliefs in a realm without any science including the body and human nature.
References: Pinker, S. (2010). Two Cultures. [Video]. Retrieved from https://cole2.uconline.edu/courses/1067208/pages/unit-1-view?module_item_id=26086615. 

Robinson, K. (2010). Changing Education Paradigms. [Video]. Retrieved from https://cole2.uconline.edu/courses/1067208/pages/unit-1-view?module_item_id=26086615. 

Snow, C.P. Two cultures and the Scientific Revolution. Reading. 1959. New York: Cambridge UP, 1961. Print

Vesna, V. (2019). Two Cultures Lecture 2: Stereotypes. [Video Lecture]. Retrieved from https://cole2.uconline.edu/courses/1067208/pages/unit-1-view?module_item_id=26086615. 

Vesna, V. (2019). Two Cultures Lecture 3: Education Paradigm. [Video Lecture]. Retrieved from https://cole2.uconline.edu/courses/1067208/pages/unit-1-view?module_item_id=26086615. 




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