kabir_raoDESMA9

WEEK 1 | TWO CULTURES

I came to UCLA from India in 2018 as a prospective Economics major, excited to join a population of college students that shared a campus and community that enjoyed a diversity of perspectives and curricula. 

My eagerness to enter this environment was driven majorly by my experience in the Indian public school system, that because of a high population and severe lack of funds, was structured to produce graduates that had basic job-applicable skills like coding and accounting. To get into a college in India, one must get a high percentile in that university’s entrance examinations. It is that simple and that cutthroat.

 

After the 10^th grade, students choose between science and commerce for their last two years, essentially deciding whether they want to learn code or accounts. Since the job market in metropolitan India is dominated by engineering, this choice is heavily influenced by stereotypes of security with engineering and accounts, and a polar opposite picture of failure for pursuit of arts. This system produces students that have good test taking ability, but little social development.

 

What's Wrong with the Indian Education System? https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/whats-wrong-indian-education-system-10-problems-explained-afzal/

 

Over my four years at UCLA, I have enjoyed my time as a student grateful for the opportunity to break away, but I do see a reflection of the divisive attitude that schools within the university are different and cannot interact. We do indeed have a north campus and south campus that geographically divides us, but I believe the central locations of Bruin Walk, Powell Library, and Royce Hall can be argued to signify the confluence of the two for social, academic and performative activity.

Bruinwalk at UCLA

 

I am in full agreement with CP Snow that sciences and humanities should complement each other, as on our own campus, we have several examples. One is the incubation of several startups at UCLA, that happens at the intersection of technical ability and humanities inspired social missions. Despite the geographic differences across the cultures in the university, successful creations by students only happen through communication between the cultures.

 

Duffl: A startup from Berkeley making waves in the UC network

Sources

Afzal, S. (2021, February 9). What's wrong with Indian Education System? (10 problems explained). LinkedIn. Retrieved April 1, 2022, from https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/whats-wrong-indian-education-system-10-problems-explained-afzal/ 

Kelly, Kevin. "The Third Culture." The Third Culture. N.p., n.d. Web. Feb. 1998

Snow, C. P. The Two Cultures ; and the Scientific Revolution. University Press, 1959.

Vesna, Victoria. "Toward a Third Culture: Being In Between." Leonardo. 34 (2001): 121-125. Print.

Garg, S. (2020, November 23). DUFFL. StartU. Retrieved April 1, 2022, from https://www.thestartu.com/post/duffl