Week 1 | Two Cultures

Week 1 | Two Cultures

Becoming a Bruin, I identify the difference between the North and South campus at UCLA. Students on North campus are mostly major in arts and humanities while students on South campus are mostly major in math and sciences. During my first quarter at UCLA, I spent ten weeks on the south campus with two math courses and one science elective.

UCLA South Campus

My first quarter was painful, then I planned to change my major from mathematics to economics. I spent my second quarter mostly on the North campus for the next ten weeks.

UCLA North Campus

In the article "The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution" by P.C. Snow, he introduces the separation of two cultures, and I found myself struggling with the same separation between arts and sciences. Although it's called the College of Arts and Science, the district split of campus shows the split in the education system and the future society. After reading the articles, I realize the social problems that had previously been unnoticed.

Can there be an integration of the two cultures? According to Dr. Vesna's article "Toward a Third Culture", the third culture in between is combined with arts, science, and humanities. The third culture can help people fully develop and break away from the stereotypes and limitation on the two cultures education system.

As I know, there is more colleges develop the interdisciplinary major and individual study, which allow students to explore all cultures and challenge themselves in their true potential. This is the last quarter of my freshmen year at UCLA, and I just discover the major of Mathematics Economics, which is a combination of the math and econ departments. I think this will be a challenging but worthy decision. 

Interdisciplinary Study

Works Cited

Vesna, Victoria. "Toward a Third Culture: Being In Between." Leonardo. 34 (2001): 122. Print.

Snow, C. P. The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution. New York: Cambridge UP, 1959. Print. 

“UCLA Physics & Astronomy.” Visiting Physics and Astronomy | www.pa.ucla.edu/content/visiting-physics-and-astronomy.

“UCLA Interactive Campus Map.” Map.ucla.edu, UCLAS, map.ucla.edu/campus/?locid=4.

Vesna, Victoria. “Lecture Part I: Two Cultures & Moving towards a Third Culture.” Web. 6 April 2019.