Two cultures

           Hi my name is Markus Raimondi and I am a senior Econ student with a minor in Scandinavian here at UCLA. I definitely feel as if there is a difference between the two cultures of North campus and South campus. Having taken some math classes on south campus and Scandinavian classes on north campus I feel the difference. I must say, the south campus classes I have taken are much more difficult for me and students in those classes are definitely more studious. Not to take anything away from north campus majors like myself, but you are using a much different skill set when taking these classes. I can see the disparity between art and science here as well. Hopefully I am able to come to a better understanding of this difference as we progress through the class as I am eager to learn.

           I am very fascinated by the idea of redesigning education. As mentioned by the RSA Animate and C.P. Snow, education may have a fundamental flaw. That flaw would be how students are educated based on age rather than intellect. I do see the advantage of educating students based on ability and perhaps this would advance the way that we learn, but doesn't this occur already? When I was in high school or even middle school, there were students in my classes, specifically math classes, who were younger than myself. They had shown a clear understanding of the material and were placed into classes where they were more challenged. The problem that I foresee with separating students based off intellectual ability rather than age is that now we are prioritizing learning over the development of students socially. I believe that when you younger there is a very important time of fostering ones growth socially. Students who may be younger in a class with students who are older and are of the same intellectual ability may have there social learning capacity stunted as they may be intimidated by older students and therefore not expressing themselves. Having students in the same classes by age allows students to grow and go through development together with their peers. I acknowledge that at some age, it doesn't really matter who is in your class age wise, you can bond with them, but do we want to make this separation at a very young age is the question.

the dividing line between North Campus and South Campus

Peer groups in a class

Local beach in La Jolla

Pinker, Steven. "SEEDMAGAZINE.COM Two Cultures Steven Pinker."YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BUbVc7qVpg>.



"RSA Animate - Changing Education Paradigms." YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. 20. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U>.

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

Vesna, Victoria. "TwoCultures Pt2." YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=20&v=GUr4xxZ_0gw>.

Vesna, Victoria. "TwoCultures Pt3." YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=15&v=4FOEuxrwxd0>.