In a world where the creative and the academic are separated by black and white, many are considering the idea of intermingling the two with each other and how that could further advance society. Having these two different sides of the spectrum come together and use each other as support systems could be integral in the further advancement of the world and of our minds. Physicist Mark B. Boslough writes in “We Must Protect U.S. Investment in Scientific Knowlege,” how science is being affected by extremists from each side of the spectrum. He writes of how we need to protect science at all costs and how everyone needs to come together to protect it, specifically stating, “One does not have to be a scientist to think scientifically.” Boslough displays here that everyone can think scientifically and I believe the same goes for the arts and creative portion of that claim. Similarly, songwriter Yo Yo Ma writes on his view of integrating the arts and sciences by introducing the idea of changing STEM to STEAM. Ma writes that it is important for our minds to have this integration. He writes, “The arts teach us that there is something that connects us all and is bigger than each of us.” Integrating the arts with the sciences could seriously help expand our minds and thought processes as we discover more and more information. I think having this collaboration of the arts and sciences will expand our minds and open so many more doors to the advancements of society. We need this collaboration to open our minds and explore new possibilities.
Month: October 2018
In our technologically driven world where maths and sciences are dominant figures, individuals are beginning to explore the thought of integrating the arts in with these subjects. Though it may be helpful to some, integrating the arts would not further advance our society. We need to focus on the importance of furthering technology and expanding our knowledge. Songwriter and Grammy award winner, Yo Yo Ma, writes on the opposition in his essay “Necessary Edges: Arts, Empathy, and Education.” In his essay he talks of the need of integrating the arts into maths and sciences, even stating that, “The values behind arts integration –collaboration, flexible thinking, and disciplined imagination — lead to the capacity to innovate.” While Ma’s view on this issue may appeal to some, I don’t believe this integration will change anything at all. His ideas seem as if they display the fact that the arts would distract from the tasks at hand. The arts integrated into science and math would distract from the learning experiences that these programs teach. The knowledge we need to advance the technology of the world further includes teaching and enforcing the importance of the sciences and maths. Incorporating the arts will do nothing but distract from the task at hand and that is why it does not need to be integrated into the sciences and maths.
- This essay was first published on the World-Post, an online news blog site in January of 2014. The essay was written by Yo Yo Ma who is a cellist and songwriter, a winner of over 18 Grammy Awards, and a producer of over 90 albums. He is also a graduate of Julliard and Harvard University. This displays that Ma is extremely qualified in the musical arts and we can tell where his viewpoint throughout the article will be.
- The purpose of reading and annotating this text is to better understand the content of the essay and to be able to purposefully use the information within the essay to write a solid English paper.
- The rhetorical situation that we are being presented with is how integrating arts and empathy into the sciences and maths will help advance the human brain. He illustrates this by explaining how we need a balance between the two to be able to achieve our full potential. Ma explains to the reader the biological reasoning and research behind adding art and empathy into science and maths. This makes us, the readers, aware of how impactful it would be if we were to integrate that into our schooling systems and even in our jobs.
Three words I wasn’t sure of:
- Interdependent: (of two or more people or things) dependent on each other.
- Ma uses this words in the opening sentence of the essay, “In our highly interdependent global civilization, a lot of things are not working.” He uses this word to display how all the countries around the world are dependent on each other and how we need art and empathy to further strengthen that connection.
- Bolster: support or strengthen; prop up.
- He uses this word to show that when we combine the arts and the sciences together it helps to provide a new energy to our “weary civilization,” as Ma states.
- Lascivious: (of a person, manner, or gesture) feeling or revealing an overt and often offensive sexual desire.
- Ma uses this word to describe a type of dance first originated in North Africa and how it was passed from culture to culture.
Old quote 1:
He goes on to say, “And one of them came to me the next morning and he said, “You know, I’ve never listened to classical music in my life, but when you played that shopping piece … He said, “My brother was shot last year and I didn’t cry for him. But last night, when you played that piece, he was the one I was thinking about. And I felt the tears streaming down my face. And it felt really good to cry for my brother.” So I made up my mind at that moment that classical music is for everybody. Everybody.”
New Quote 1:
He goes on to say that the morning after he had performed the piece for the children, one of them came up to him and said “You know, I’ve never listened to classical music in my life, but when you played that shopping piece … He said, “My brother was shot last year and I didn’t cry for him. But last night, when you played that piece, he was the one I was thinking about. And I felt the tears streaming down my face. And it felt really good to cry for my brother.” Zander said he knew that after that moment classical music was for everybody.
Old Quote 2:
By definition to be an “altruist” is to be “unselfishly concerned for or devoted to the welfare of others (opposed to egoistic).”
New Quote 2:
To be an altruist is to be, put into literal terms, “devoted to the welfare of others.”
I believe these quotes worked better after being revised because they fit better into the context of my argument as opposed to what they were before. I think before revising they were too long of a quote and didn’t make sense in my text.
Old Paragraph 1:
In a world where there are millions living in poverty and children are going hungry a group who believe that we should be donating and helping those in need, ask the rest of the world, is art a waste of time? The Effective Altruists, as they call themselves, believe that art is useless and a waste of time when there are people suffering and in need. Though there are those who may agree with the EA’s, many, including myself, believe that art has the power to transform us, as humans, from within. Benjamin Zander, a musical composer of the Boston Philharmonic, appeared on TED talk “How Does Music Transform Us?,” where he talks about how he has witnessed classical music pieces affecting audience members in such a prominent way he was even able to reach a seventh grade audience. Zander points out that while maybe not everyone listens to classical music, when heard it can have the power to transform us as individuals. He wholeheartedly believes that this art form has such an impact on people that he can see their eyes shining. It really is true when you touch someone with any form or type of art that may speak to that individual, you can see it in their eyes and face. Why the EA’s don’t think that art can change the world is just baffling to me. I get that they think everyone should be doing more to help end poverty and world hunger, but that doesn’t mean we should stop being creative and using art to make the world aware of these issues. That is why when presented with the question, “is art a waste of time,” I cannot just simply say no as it becomes a much bigger, and more in-depth issue of not only how it is not a waste of time, but how we can use art to transform lives and promote change.
New Paragraph 1:
In a world where there are millions living in poverty and children are going hungry a group who believe that we should be donating to and helping those in need, ask the rest of the world, is art a waste of time? The Effective Altruists, as they call themselves, believe that art is useless and a waste of time when there are people suffering and in need. Though there are those who may agree with the EA’s, many, including myself, believe that art has the power to transform us, as humans, from within. Benjamin Zander, a musical composer of the Boston Philharmonic, appeared on TED talk “How Does Music Transform Us?” where he talks about how he has witnessed classical music pieces affecting audience members in such a prominent way he was even able to reach a seventh-grade audience. That is why when presented with the question, “is art a waste of time,” I cannot just simply say no as it becomes a much bigger, and more in-depth issue of not only how it is not a waste of time, but how we can use art to transform the lives of individuals that are suffering and promote change to make individuals more aware of these issues surrounding us.
Old Paragraph 2:
If you really think about it, there are many different ways in which we can use art to transform and change peoples lives. As the saying goes “a picture’s worth a thousand words,” which can not only apply to, of course, a picture, but to many different art forms like film-making, music, painting, drawing, photography, anything you can think of honestly. The power any of these listed can have to move or touch someone is amazing to witness. Specifically discussed in Zander’s TED talk, he relays a story of how he was performing a piece, done by Chopin, in Ireland during the Troubles for a group of street kids in which he was working on conflict resolution with. He goes on to say, “And one of them came to me the next morning and he said, “You know, I’ve never listened to classical music in my life, but when you played that shopping piece … He said, “My brother was shot last year and I didn’t cry for him. But last night, when you played that piece, he was the one I was thinking about. And I felt the tears streaming down my face. And it felt really good to cry for my brother.” So I made up my mind at that moment that classical music is for everybody. Everybody.” This really stuck out to me because the fact that this Chopin piece that Zander played reached a child made it evident that not only is classical music for everyone, but that art can move and change people in ways they may not even know. If art was a so called “waste of time,” do you think that this child would have ever had the chance to mourn for the death of his own brother? Or would he have just continued on in his life bottling up his true feelings? Maybe if the EA’s weren’t so quick to judge and say that art is a waste of time, they could open their eyes and see that they could use art to help promote their cause and make the rest of the world aware of how many are really in need. Sometimes just seeing a simple picture or short video can cause a spark inside of us. art plays such an important role in our society that it will never be viewed as a waste of time. People use art everyday to promote what they are passionate about and what they believe in.
New Paragraph 2:
While Southan states in his essay that the EA’s believe that art doesn’t have the means to help a suffering life, Zander retaliates in his TED talk about how he helped an underprivileged child who was suffering from a traumatic event in his life. Specifically discussed in Zander’s TED talk, he relays a story of how he was performing a piece, done by Chopin, in Ireland during the Troubles for a group of street kids in which he was working on conflict resolution with. He goes on to say that the morning after he had performed the piece, one of the children came up to him and said “You know, I’ve never listened to classical music in my life, but when you played that shopping piece … He said, “My brother was shot last year and I didn’t cry for him. But last night, when you played that piece, he was the one I was thinking about. And I felt the tears streaming down my face. And it felt really good to cry for my brother.” Zander said he knew that after that moment classical music was for everybody. This really stuck out to me because the fact that this Chopin piece that Zander played reached a child made it evident that not only is classical music for everyone, but that art can help transform a suffering life in ways they may not even know. As Southan states, the EA’s believe art is just an indulgence for the wealthy, but if art was a so-called “waste of time,” do you think that this child would have ever had the chance to mourn for the death of his own brother? Or would he have just continued on in his life bottling up his true feelings and suffering through the pain of a lost life?
These changes to my two paragraphs have really helped to shape the essay into something much better than what it originally was. I think it gives more depth to my argument and supports my thesis much more than before.
