WIP Panel Prezzi

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So I’ve been struggling a little bit with the exigence of my paper. Like Chiara, Abby, and Katie, I’m writing about the sexual objectification of women in the media. However, instead of calling out the advertising agencies, I’ve decided to address my paper more to the general public. To those who receive and take in media information on a daily basis. So, really, everyone in this room. I’m focusing on making the audience care about this issue, to take a moment to reflect and acknowledge that the medias constructions of reality can and do influence us on an individual basis. The media is always thought of as an abstract figure, at least that’s how I see it. However, this abstract idea can cause serious harm to people we know, effecting us on an individual and personal level. I want people to understand this when they read my paper. In that sense, I’m going to take a more personal route with my paper and appeal to emotions. I will, of course, still be providing a lot of evidence to support and reaffirm my claims.

So we all know about photoshop, some of us may even have used it before. I know that Jesse is pretty handy with it. Well the media uses photoshop and other devices to create constructions of reality that they then relay to their audience, whom they hope to convince to consume their product. However, altering reality in such a drastic way has equally drastic consequences. For women especially, this tactic can create an ideal that we simply live up to. I mean honestly, the models don’t even look like the models we see in magazines. This creates a pressure for women to live up to this ideal, because men and women both see it and expect women to look like that. This pressure can lead women to develop low self-esteem and to develop eating disorders in order to achieve the supple thin bodies of the models they see. It’s all in an effort to live up to something that isn’t even real.

v=AKlVyUJw3TMhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKlVyUJw3TM

 

With this in mind, I think it’s been pretty widely accepted that #1, the audience is an active recipient of media. This means that we have the power to turn off the channel, mute the ad on youtube, or flip the page of the magazine. However, just because we can choose not to look at a particular ad, doesn’t mean that it doesn’t affect us. In fact, to some degree it does affect us. This brings me to #2, the sexual objectification of women in the media is a thing. There’s really no refuting it. I mean, we have four girls in our class alone writing persuasive essays on the subject. #3 another irrefutable point is that this portrayal of women is detrimental in a plethora of ways.

Having said that, I don’t think it’s particularly necessary to beat this issue to death with an abundance of statistical information and data. I think it would be both repetitive and boring if I were to bog the reader down with data point after data point, example after example of how this commercial and that ad is negatively impacting society. So instead, I plan on beginning my essay with a pre-intro type paragraph. This pre-intro intro will be the true story of someone who was effected by sexual objectification. I’m thinking about something along the lines of a snippet of the story, maybe telling it in reverse. No to spoil it, but this particular girl gave up her life, and I think it would be interesting to tell the story in reverse. Have a snippet of her story, beginning with her death, and then go into the actual introduction, which would be my miniature rant of how the media portrays women negatively, and then I would provide statistics and examples of commercials, companies, etc. that do this. That way I can get that out of the way early on in the essay and set up a sort of support system to build off of. From there I can intersperse the personal story or stories with hard data. I think this strategy will provide an interesting break up of the paper.

What I intend on specifically focusing on in regards to the informational side of the essay is that the media creates self-esteem issues which can lead to eating disorders, suicides, self-harm, etc. I also want to discuss activists and companies that are working against the typical media approach to portray women in a positive, normal light. For example, Dove and aerie are both taking the initiative and using real women in their advertisements, so no photoshopping

Getting Lost and Finding More

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Today we had a break from the frozen tundra we’ve been living in. The weather graciously decided to rise above -32, and the sun was out, which always helps. I was content to go about my day clothed with a light coat and scarf to keep me warm, without being bogged down with my usual 5 layers of sweaters, thermals, hats, scarves, gloves, and galoshes. It also smelled like spring, so that didn’t hurt either. I was very happy with the weather, and I had just eaten a very satisfying sandwich for lunch, so I didn’t particularly mind being rather hopelessly lost looking for Kyle’s office.

I had meandered up and down South Allen Street for a good 10 minutes looking for 242 S Allen before realizing that the building I was actually looking for was 224 (I had accounted for getting lost time when I left for the appointment because I get lost an embarrassingly lot, so I still managed to get there on time). My mistake. I had 242 plugged into my GPS and that took me to the Verizon Building. So I did do a few laps around it looking for an entrance- I can only imagine what the people inside were thinking about me. I tried every door on that god forsaken building. Well, all two of them. Thankfully they were both locked because it would have been mad embarrassing to explain that I was looking for my English professor. Heh.

After realizing my mistake, I re-routed myself and quickly found the right building (The huge and bold printed English Department sign on the door was a nice tip-off. Whoops.) I Walked right by it on my way. So apparently I am both unobservant and incompetent.

Anyways, to get to the point. Sometimes it’s actually nice to get lost somewhere, anywhere. I’m not talking about driving alone at night and happening on some sketchy back road kind of lost, but when you’re walking around in nice weather, and there are plenty of people out and about to make sure you don’t get kidnapped or run into an axe-murderer, it can be pretty nice. I’m never really roundabouts South Allen, so it was interesting to get a chance to explore it, especially because it was warm out for a change. I found out that there’s a public library right up the road, and I finally found the alleged municipal building that houses the farmers market every Friday when it’s too cold to have it outside.

State College is our home for the next three years or so. (side note: it’s weird to think that we’re nearly finished with our freshman year. It’s also exciting, but it’s gone by entirely too fast for my liking) We should be familiar with our surroundings, if only to direct some lost and visiting parent to the Allen Street Grill. So now and again, take the opportunity to wander State College for a little while. Take it in while you can, because we won’t be here forever, and you might regret it if you don’t. Get to know the place you live in, visit the local stores and cafes. Get a taste of what it’s like to be a true Penn Stater, and be glad that you did.  Hopefully you can do this on your own initiative and not by mistake like I did, but sometimes mistakes lead to good things.

Or look at it this way: Be like Where’s Waldo. Just make sure you don’t get too lost. af

Work in Progress

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Over the summer I took a philosophy of the media at good ol’ Penn State. I thought that the class was really interesting, and I followed it up with a communications media literacy class. As I’ve gone through the semester, I couldn’t help but noticing that both courses analyzed the sexual objectification of women in the media, generally in advertisements. I think that the concept is really interesting and I’m thinking about going more in-depth with it for the social issues/ policy advocacy. Particularly I want to focus on the negative effects that these advertisements have on the consumer, namely other women.

My little cousin Samantha is absolutely stunning. She’s athletic, she eats right, all that jazz, but she is still super self-conscious about her body. She doesn’t think that she’s skinny enough, or pretty enough, or tall enough. She wants to look like the girls in magazines, and quite frankly I think that’s bullshit. Not even the girls in the magazines look like the girls in the magazines. They’re beautiful women, sure, but all of their pictures are airbrushed and retouched. This process creates an unrealistic standard for beauty that most women just don’t stand up to, and that creates problems. I’m not a diehard feminist or anything, but I am a female, and I get tired when I see beautiful, stunning, and gorgeous, photo shopped women plastered on advertisements day after day. That’s all well and good, but most real women simply do not look like them. Their beauty is an effective means for advertising because it makes us believe that we can look like these women if we only buy that perfume, but this tactic is so destructive to so many. Teenage girls have it hard enough without having to compare themselves to something that isn’t real. This creates eating disorders and self-esteem issues that can leave deep scars. I would like to research this process and advocate an end to it.

photoshop

I know that there are campaigns to only put real women on the cover of magazines, and I would like to advocate that. We shouldn’t be supporting such an unrealistic standard. It creates self-esteem problems for women and it’s just disappointing for men who expect to get the women in magazines.

The True Cost of a College Education

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So I know we’ve spent a lot of time discussing the higher education system in our Deliberations (not debates), but I am going to beat a dead dog and talk about it some more, because why not?

According to our handy-dandy pamphlet, so generously provided by the National Issues Forum, “nearly 9 in 10 Americans say that [youngins] are better off going to high school”. I was raised in a household that strongly supported the idea of getting a college education. To be perfectly honest, it wasn’t so much a choice for me. All I had to decide was which of the 4,643 of the nation’s colleges I wanted to attend. Everywhere from the Midwest to the west coast was pretty much null and void because my mother didn’t want me to go so far from home.

So how did I end up at Penn State, one of the most expensive public universities in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania? Well, funny story. Penn State wasn’t actually a serious consideration of mine until about a week before the college application deadline. I applied on a whim, because why not? I ended up getting in and I decided to go to the accepted student’s day. I had a preconceived notion that it was a hickey farm school, but it was everything to the contrary. I ended up falling in love with it, and so here I am, already about $20 grand or so deep in debt. Two semesters in. Woohooooo.

Penn State used to be nearly fully funded by the government, but today it has about 2% government funding. Penn State received a cut of $182 million for the 2011-2012 year. The loss of funding means more money has to come out of the students’ pockets, but less money coming out of the tax payers pockets. “The direct impact of these cuts would be to undermine the support of in-state tuition for Pennsylvania resident students” Speaking for the others in my deliberation group, few of us received significant financial aid. Out of state students tuition is even more, $44,156 all things considered. The National Issues Forum mentioned that “tuition and fees at public universities…. Have jumped 47 percent in the past 10 years”. Of course this doesn’t include additional costs and expenses such as room and board, groceries, and whatnot.

Many students have turned to financial loans to cover these increasing costs. And of course there’s an entire business to college financial loans, and there’s a huge process to applying for loans. There’s also the danger of loan sharks that can come with private loans. My parents never had to take out loans for college. My mom paid her own way with no help from her parents whatsoever. That’s a damn near impossible feat nowadays. I could not afford college without my parents help. I saved money from years of babysitting and weekends reffing soccer games. Nearly all of that money went towards my first semester.

The entire system is rather troubling, to be honest, and I would very much like it to be remedied. My deliberation group discussed the possibility of cutting professors’ salaries, but that would need to happen on a national if not international scale because professors would just move to institutes and universities that would pay them more. Increasing tax revenue for the public education system is an entirely other can of worms, but something that Pennsylvania voters should consider. To be honest, it’s going to impact Pennsylvania residents one way or another.

The impact only becomes greater when you consider the social gradients. It’s becoming harder and harder for the middle class to pay for college tuition. Because for the average high school student, college tuition isn’t only college tuition. It’s also paying for SAT or ACT tutoring sessions, paying for each test you take, expenses involved in visiting campuses (i.e. gas, hotel rooms, food), money spent on extracurriculars (which are practically necessary to prove that you’re “well-rounded”), etc.

 

Along the same strain of thought, Siobhan mentioned and illustrated a very lovely graph demonstrating the relationship between social class and SAT scores that she discovered during research on a project for college tuition. She noted how your socio-economic standing was directly related to your SAT score, which, along with your GPA, is a fairly strong indicator for the college application process.

This begs the question, is it fair to place such a strong emphasis on an exam such as the SAT when it is practically geared towards those who have a better socio-economic standing in the first place, who can afford to get tutored, who can afford to take time off of work because they aren’t providing for a family?

The entire system is troubled, and, while our deliberation helped us to gain a better understanding of our situation, I’m not entirely sure that we came up with any feasible solutions. Short of righting the economy, increasing taxes, and rewiring the entire applicant selection process, there is little we can do other than raise awareness and protest.

A Love Letter to THON

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Okay, so I know that many, if not all of you have heard if not experienced THON at Penn State. For anyone who still isn’t sure what it is, THON is a 46 hour dance marathon geared at raising money for kids with pediatric cancer. Nearly 99% of the proceeds goes directly to four diamonds families at the Penn State Hershey Medical Center. This money supports families by covering all costs that insurance doesn’t. This can include medicine, treatments, music therapy, and much more.committee

However, THON goes a lot deeper than that. THON weekend offers so much more than monetary relief to the children and parents of the four diamonds families, it offers an escape from endless treatments and hospital visits. It also offers comfort and support from all of those who share the struggle and from all those who support them

THON weekend is nearly exclusively student run. I’m on the OPPerations committee, which sets up and tears down the BJC for the weekend. There’s also R&R which is pretty much security, gabe picMoralers are tasked with doing whatever it takes to keep their dancers happy, HOSPitality provides food for the dancers and four diamond families, ENTertainment books and organizes all of the entertainment (bands, dancers, pep ralleys, etc.). There are more obscure committees as well but I can’t think of them at the moment, and those are the main ones. Each committee is fairly intrinsic to the weekend and we all have a part to play.

OPP is more behind the scenes. We start in October by sterilizing the anti-fatigue mats (little jogsaw pieces that we lay down on the floor to make it more comfortable) and the mats we put on top of them. Both mats have to be sterilized because a lot of the kids’ immune systems are down and they’re prone to infection.thon set up 2

To kick off THON, OPP spends 5:00 am to about 2:00 pm Saturday laying down these mats on the BJC floor, stocking all of the bathrooms, and cleaning anything that needs cleaning. We also set up and tear down tables all weekend so the dancers can eat, pick up trash during and after THON, clean all of the bathrooms in the BJC, mop all of the stands, and then clean/ tear it all down once THON is over. It’s fair to say that we spend a lot of time cleaning/mopping/scrubbing. Every single one of my muscles was sore the next day and I was thoroughly exhausted, but it was such an incredible experience, and I loved every single second of it.

I was talking to one of the families, the Truex family, who, coincidently, is the Pen Pal of my committee! (I’m the Pen Pal chair and it was such an amazing experience to finally meet them all!!) It was really incredible to talk with them. Gabe was our Pen Pal and he was absolutely adorable. He and his older brother Tyler were having a blast with all of the water gun fights they had (if you get the chance to go on the floor, be prepared with a water gun because some of the kids are merciless, and you will be attacked and get soaked). The families have a whole bunch of activities planned for them all weekend long, including a small carnival, information sessions, and thonmeals. There’s also this really cool thing where one of the committee captains adopts a THON child for an hour or so. They get to be a Captains in Training, tour the BJC, and talk on the headset (which, honestly, is the coolest part!). This also allows the parents to be relieved of their kids for a short while. No matter how cute they are, they can be a handful and a break is always nice (Mr. Truex said that his small coffee break was one of his favorite moments of the whole weekend).

One kid I talk to, Alex, had gone to 8 THON’s and he was only 14! THON is so special because the kids get to be treated like any other little kid and they get to forget everything for a change. It offers an atmosphere of fun where the pain can be forgotten. I know that I had a blast whenever I had a floor shift.

It’s also really amazing to be a part of something so much bigger than yourself. I cried when they announced the total, of course I had been crying from the family stories and video clips they had been showing. So many people see Penn State for the football team or for the recent scandals, but people tend to overlook the gloriousness that is THON. I mean, we raised $13.4 MILLION! If that isn’t attention worthy, then I don’t know what is.

THON total

I might be another THON buff, and I know that there are some problems with it (the pass system failed, for example) but I am absolutely, irrefutably in love and I can’t wait to do it again next year. Another bonus is that your committee pretty much becomes your family. Mine is 35 people strong and it’s amazing to look back at how in the beginning of the year we were strangers, and now we’re so close!

Enough rambling, THON was an amazing and eye opening experience. I highly suggest that you get involved some way or another.

FTK. NGU.

The Woes of the Snowpocalypse

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On February 5th at 4:57 AM I received a text message from 795-16, the free PSUTXT service, stating that classes and activities would be delayed from 5-10 a.m. Today I received a similar text at 2:07 p.m. stating that University Park would be having an “early dismissal due to snow. Students, faculty dismissed at 2:15p.m.” I’ll admit, conditions on the 5th weren’t terrible, but it still sucked as I read through the tweets of people from my high school as they celebrated their snow days. They still only got about half the amount of snow we did. Not to mention the delay didn’t even affect my 11:15 class. Thanks Penn State.

Anyway, as I trekked to my class in Thomas today, I couldn’t help but feeling a little bitterness towards my beloved Penn State. Thomas isn’t even that far from Pollock. It’s a hop, skip, and a jump away, but I can’t tell you how many times I almost fell flat on my face in the ankle deep snow (Seriously guys. What’s with this weather? Who pissed off Elsa?) And I wasn’t the only one. People were slipping and sliding all over the place, even people with actual weather appropriate shoes (my boots had zero traction, so that was my bad). Even crossing the street becomes dangerous in these conditions, as cars barely skid to a halt in time to avoid running you over. There were times where I thought I was road kill.

Penn State insists on making us go to classes in unsafe conditions. I’m sorry, but when students have to resort to this to get to class, you should probably cancel. In addition to putting its students in mortal danger Penn State is spending $1 million in snow removal alone (the budget is $600,000 folks). Now obviously snow removal is necessary. We can’t exactly tunnel our way from our dorms to the commons, but it’s also a bit ridiculous when you’re constantly clearing the roads to keep the cata busses running, and the roads refuse to stay clear. I’ve heart-stoppingly witnessed a cata buss slide on the ice on Bigler, and all for the sake of keeping classes going. Speaking of all of the ice, out of the 800 tons of salt portioned each year to keep Penn State sidewalks clear of snow, we’ve got nothing left. That may have been factor in today’s late cancellations.

We simply don’t have the supplies to keep up with this god awful weather. The annual snowfall for State College is 45.7 inches and, as of February 7th, we’ve had 32.8. What did we get today? 4-8 inches? We don’t have the supplies to maintain safe conditions, but instead of possibly admitting it and cancelling classes, we waited until most of the students, on campus and off, hauled ass out of bed and went out into the storm .

Imagine, just imagine living all the way in bumblefuck Walmart and having to get up an hour and a half before class to wait at the bus stop in this weather. I’m sorry Penn State but you should seriously get your shit together. If you don’t have the supplies to clear the roads effectively, and maintain them throughout the day, kindly cancel the goddam classes.

On the Subject of Wednesday’s “Discussion”

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I would like to address the discussion turned debate turned death match that divided our class on Wednesday. I would like to discuss why it turned to ugly so quickly and hopefully prevent that from happening in the future.

I know that a lot of people were absent from class for one reason or another, so allow me to fill you in. We were discussing whether public life influenced private life and vice versa. We approached this situation from several different angels and were sorted into groups based on our understanding of the concept.

I was in the group that believed that our public lives influence our private lives, although I ended up chilling in the middle with Abby towards the end of the discussion. The second group believed that private life influenced our public lives, and the third believed, well to be honest I’m still not entirely clear about what the modern viewpoint was. And I think that was one of the problems that we encountered…

As we opened up discussion, we were supposed to elect a representative or two to speak for the group. I was elected representative because I lost nose-goes, but, my group at least, was a little unclear on the exigence of our topic. That made arguing for it a little difficult because the three categories weren’t definitive. As a class, we tried to collaborate on a common definition for several of the things we were discussing, but we never really succeeded. That also made it difficult to argue because we didn’t interpret the material in the same way.

The representative thing fell through after a few minutes and the floor opened up to the class in general, which also ended up creating a little bit of chaos. It worked well for a few minutes, Austin, for example stood when he spoke, making it clear when he was finished speaking. But as the discussion continued, we kept interrupting one another. To be perfectly honest we allowed our passion (?) for the subject to get the better of us and we weren’t very respectful to one another. I am 100% guilty of this and I’m sorry if I offended anyone. I debated a lot in high school for various classes, and I get really into it, and I just wanted to let you know that it’s nothing personal. I just really enjoy deconstructing and nitpicking arguments. Sometimes I get swept away and do so viciously, and so I am sorry.

I think that, to some extent, we were all guilty of getting caught up in the emotional aspect of the argument. It’s kind of like watching the Vice Presidential debates. If you haven’t done so, they’re hilariously entertaining and full of malarkey. They pretty much go after one another with everything they’ve got, and not nearly as many people watch those debates so they can get away with it more so.

Anyway, for future discussions/debates I think that we should retain a little more propriety and perhaps take more steps to moderate our discussions more effectively. I’m also very sorry to Kyle for having to witness that debacle.

We’re very, truly sorry 

Work in Progress

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So my This I Believe piece is about how flour handprints connected my grandfather, my mother, and myself. He always had something smeared on his pants when he was cooking, and I ended up unknowingly acquiring the same habit. In addition to that symbolism, the story also touches on how cooking and family meals brought my family together when my grandmother died very young, and how it continues to bring us together and keep us together. Because my grandfather was a sort of overarching theme to the story, I tried to characterize him through dialogue and brief descriptions of his habits and actions; he was a very gruff and brunt person.

I think that my piece is written for performance, and I think it will be interesting and fun to record. I also like the language I used. It was very informally written, and I think it comes across as very invitational. I think that supports my ethos as a writer/ speaker and will allow readers/listeners to identify a pathos.

However, I have some trepidations about the symbolism I used. I’m not sure if the overarching image of my grandfather in any way conflicts or detracts from the image of the flour handprints. The handprints are what I was trying to focus on most, but they are an innate example of his character. I decided to use the kind of language that he would/did use, i.e. damn. His somewhat crude language is true to his character, but I’m not sure if it particularly adds anything to the piece and I’m curious if it takes away from my ethos. I also really wanted the reader to feel almost included in the scene and I’m not sure if I achieved that, so I think I’m going to go over it and try to make that happen. I have 84 words so I might as well use them.

Ramen Parties

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big bag o ramenI’m sure that most of you are familiar with this image; Cup O’ Noodles and Ramen are a staple for so many poor college students. Especially when, like me, you run out of meal points with a little over a month left before finals even start, are forced to buy this stuff in bulk (and I mean bulk), and pretty much eat it for breakfast. And lunch. And then again for dinner.

If you haven’t had the pleasure of tasting the stuff yet, Don’t. And don’t mistake this blog post as an endorsement for these products. They are absolutely terrible for you. (I just found out last night that you’re not supposed to microwave Cup O’ Noodles…. Something about toxicity?? Whoops. Guess I’ve been doing it wrong the ENTIRE time!!!) Unfortunately I’m already hooked. I went to the gym last night and completely counteracted my productivity by coming home to a hot, steaming bowl of ramen, generously provided by my darling roommate. (I actually ended up having to purge myself of it over break. I have never experienced withdrawal before, but I think I came pretty damn close when I cut myself off. But I needed to get all of the salt out of my bloodstream. Anyway, that’s over and I’m right back on the ramen fast track).

But to get back to the point, this isn’t about ramen. Because ramen by itself is bad, but what it can do for you is wonderful (Not to be taken in a weird, druggy way. I’m not actually addicted guys). Ramen is one of the reasons why our English class is so weirdly close, and why my friends get mad at me for talking about you guys all the time.

It all started one day in the first half of the year.

Chiara and I had decided to skip the class we had after English, (something we did more often that I care to admit to. Ahem.) and we were walking back to the dorms with Jesse and Jeremy, who live conveniently close by. Chiara and I have this weird thing where we’re always hungry when we’re with each other, and when we mentioned this, Jesse graciously offered to feed us. Little did we know just how pivotal that moment was, and how draining it would be on his ramen stash (we went through an embarrassing amount of ramen last semester…)

When we got back to his room, Jesse, with expert precision and efficiency, prepared two delectable bowls of ramen. And just like when you give a moose a muffin, he’ll want some jam to go with it, when you feed me, you acquire my life long friendship.

Who knew that 778 mg of sodium could bring people together? College is funny that way though. You constantly meet new people, and sometimes they stick with you. Older cousins and friends who have long since graduated have always told me that they’ve met their best

and truest friends in college. I’ve only just started my life here, but I think it’s been a damn good start.

***Shout out to Jesse Weber for all of his hospitality and

jesse

for his ramen-making talent.  Luh you boo!

To Art or Not to Art?

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Allow me to begin this Civic Issues blog post by ranting a teeny, little bit. It’s relevant to my point, and I will get there I swear. Just bear with me for a minute.  

Essentially, as a second semester freshman, I have absolutely no idea what I’m doing with my life. I haven’t a clue what I want to major in, and I can’t even begin to fathom the career path I will one day be pursuing. I have difficulty deciding what I want to eat for lunch, ask my roommate. I can ponder over options for a solid half hour. Or you could ask my advisor, because I have also spent my fair share of my time in her office puzzling out these questions, but alas. I have come up with nothing as of yet.

Don’t get me wrong, there are certain things I like. I’ve always been fascinated by history (I think I may even have scared Kyle a little with my enthusiasm for the French Revolution… Sorry not sorry. I love that stuff) and I really enjoy learning languages. But these subjects, by themselves, offer little in the way of monetary compensation, which is more than necessary if I’m going to have any hope of paying off all of the debt I’m racking up.

So the questions stands as thus: do I sacrifice a satisfyingly rich and fulfilling career that yields little profit, or do I sacrifice an economically secure future, fueled by a less than ideal career?

This is an issue of contention that numerous predecessors have faced and that numerous successors will continue to face, unless something is done. (and who’s to say that they haven’t and won’t come out ahead in the long run?!) But to get to the point, this ultimately goes back to something I have been muddling over since I began my college search process:  It begs the question of whether or not there is a true value to a Liberal Arts education.

There already exists a great disparity between the humanities and the sciences, and the students’ of the humanities already bear a negative connotation as the future employees of Starbucks around the nation (I will grant them (me?) free reign over Starbucks the world over). However, this idea of “two cultures” within the educational system is hardly a new concept and it was most famously argued by C.P. Snow during his lecture at Cambridge in 1959.  Snow was a scientist turned author, but he always held a disdain for those who he termed “literary intellectuals. ” He believed that the separation between the two disciplines was detrimental to society at large because it repressed progression. He believed that it took away many developments that would have increased the overall standard of living… Developments that mainly originated from the sciences.

This separation, in my opinion, is still largely present in today’s academic environments (although I believe that we are more aware of the problem and more active in bridging the gap between these disciplines). Take for example, the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) majors. Many students major in these areas in the hopes of obtaining greater job security and economic benefits. I can’t say that both of my parents haven’t encouraged me to pursue one or more of the STEM disciplines. My own roommate is happily majoring in Information Science Technology, but I have neither the inclination nor the ability to pursue a career in those fields. (Sorry mom and dad. No physics lab for me!) Despite the career opportunities in the STEM fields, and despite my reservations, I can’t help but think that there is, in fact, some value to a Liberal Arts degree. I have, after all, visited several colleges and universities that solely promote a Liberal Arts education. So there has to be some benefit to them, right? Well, according to a report by the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AACU), “majoring in a liberal arts field can and does lead to successful and remunerative careers in a wide array of professions.” So there is hope for Liberal Arts scholars, and for those of us who don’t know what we’re doing. Ultimately, however, I think that it would be incomparably better for scholars, workers, and employers the world over if the “two cultures” were to somehow reconcile and encourage one another’s progress instead of browbeating each other. I think the true potential and intrinsic value of each educational culture is found not in the Stark comparison of the two but in the creation of a symbiotic relationship. This fusion of the humanities and sciences would also reduce the stress of determining your major/career, because that is some scary stuff to begin with.

 

As someone who can’t even decide what her intended major should be, I am clearly in no position of authority on this particular subject. However, I do hope to spark some discussion on the matter because, science or humanities, this is prevalent to us all, especially in an ever globalizing marketplace.

 

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