Hailey Esses Blog 1: Two Cultures

As a north campus major, I have only been to south campus in my two years at UCLA. CP Snow created the idea that there is a divide between the two cultures of science and arts and suggested that we bridge the gap (Snow). As Steven Pinker points out students should be educated in both fields (Pinker).

            I'm Hailey, a second-year Communication major and Spanish minor. In elementary, middle, and high school, my education was very well-rounded. However, over the years, my education became more focused, and I had to pick a path of humanities or STEM. At UCLA, it is much different than high school where each semester was a well-rounded course load, whereas most quarters now I take different humanities and social science classes. Last year, I took an interdisciplinary science-based cluster that revolved around sustainability and food–a science and art. Although my courses do not reflect many sciences, I am still very interested in those topics. I am not sure about what I want to do as a career, but I know it will encompass many subjects.

Walking from north to south campus, I saw many differences in architecture, landscaping and people. On north campus, I noticed more architecturally-creative buildings with art and engravings, in contrast to the newer and more office-like buildings on south campus. According to Professor Vesna, there is a shift to more corporate-like structures in educational buildings (Vesna). I noticed more grass and open space on north campus and more concrete on south campus. In north campus buildings I have found older water fountains with beautiful engravings and art work. When by the arts buildings and the sculpture garden, I could hear singing and see students acting.

These differences made me more mindful of the stereotypes of north and south campus students. As Professor Vesna said we all have unconscious biases, and I was able to realize my own (Vesna). What I have seen on north and south campus partially fit the stereotypes that many have such as the creativity of north campus and structure of south campus. However, many of my south campus friends are very creative. These perspectives have opened my eyes and showed that the evident gap between the two cultures should allow for a third culture, as CP Snow suggests (Snow). I think it is beneficial to be well rounded and interested in a variety of subjects.

Work Cited

Jung, Justin, and Nitya Tak. “A campus divided | PRIME.” PRIME, https://prime.dailybruin.com/justinnorth&southcampus. Accessed 1 April 2022.

“SEEDMAGAZINE.COM Two Cultures Steven Pinker.” YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BUbVc7qVpg.

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

Vesna, Victoria. (2022). “Two Cultures and Moving towards the Third Culture.” DESMA 9. Class lecture at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, March 30, 2022.

Vesna, Victoria. (2022). “Stereotypes.” DESMA 9. Class lecture at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, March 30, 2022.

White, Joshua. “Franklin D. Murphy Sculpture Garden | Hammer Museum.” Hammer Museum, 14 August             2015, https://hammer.ucla.edu/collections/franklin-d-murphy-sculpture-garden. Accessed 1 April                2022.

Comments

  1. Alexandra ChanApril 3, 2022 at 6:39 PM

    Hi Hailey,
    I enjoyed reading your post, and especially the addition of a more personal perspective in relation to the topics we learned about this week. Like you, I also spent some of my blog post writing about how Professor Vesna said that many university campuses reflect the divide between humanities and sciences, and how it pertains to our campus. I appreciated how you talked about your walk through and analysis of the building changes from one side of the campus to the other, I found it to be very insightful and interesting to read about.

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  2. Jenny HaApril 3, 2022 at 9:57 PM

    Hey Hailey,
    I like the way that you described the differences between south and north campus. I agree with all the points you made. I also feel that in elementary school and high school my education was well rounded, but after highschool my education was more focused on my major. The art school I went to took an interesting approach to first year students, instead of separating students by their major or focus, they made all the freshman take mandatory core class that allowed us to experiment with all mediums and forms of art. Do you think it would be a good idea to require south campus students to take at least one class on the north campus and vice versa?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Jack FilbyApril 4, 2022 at 8:09 PM

    Hi Hailey, you bring up several great points in your post especially when describing the two different types of campus. I never noticed the differences until I took this class and now I realize the major difference between the two. North campus defiantly displays much more art work and creative structures displaying the art aspect. While South campus is the complete opposite. The two different forms of culture are shown perfectly on UCLA's campus. Thank you for sharing, very insightful.

    ReplyDelete

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