Month: October 2018

I chose chapter nine of They Say/I Say. This chapter is entitled, “‘You Mean I Can Just Say It That Way?’ Academic Writing Doesn’t Mean Setting Aside Your Own Voice.” I chose this chapter after looking over the table of contents and deciding which one I struggle with most. This chapter discusses the problem that students can have when writing academically. Most often, students feel that they have to use the most advanced words in academic writing, but this can often leave readers confused. This chapter argues that students can actually use plain, everyday language; it is all about creating a nice mix of advanced ideas and words with simple language that we use all the time. I personally struggle with this in my essays. Although it mostly works out for me and my readers don’t get too confused, I find myself picking the “best of the best” words to use, when it could be said in a much simpler way. The chapter describes this process as, “creating a new voice that draws on the voice you already have.” This means that we, as academic writers, can still use our own voice within our writing. We should not write a piece that sounds nothing like us because we are constantly using the thesaurus.

Before: There are many things that science cannot answer, and Jonah Lehrer, author of “The Future of Science…Is Art?,” states, “It’s not that we don’t have all the answers. It’s that we don’t even know the question.” This means that scientists continue to develop theories and expand on research, however, we cannot receive the answers if we do not know the questions.

After: There are many things that science cannot answer, and Jonah Lehrer, author of “The Future of Science…Is Art?,” states, “It’s not that we don’t have all the answers. It’s that we don’t even know the question.” This means that scientists continue to develop theories and expand on research, however, we cannot receive the answers if we do not know the questions. Plainly put, we do not and cannot know everything.

Before: The concept of STEAM, science, technology, engineering, arts, and math, is more inclusive than the previously accepted concept of STEM, science, technology, engineering, and math. Yo-Yo Ma explains the idea behind this art integration, that “collaboration, flexible thinking, and disciplined imagination” all can “lead to the capacity to innovate.” If the ideas within the arts and sciences were to collaborate, it could provide a more inclusive learning environment for students.

After: The concept of STEAM, science, technology, engineering, arts, and math, is more inclusive than the previously accepted concept of STEM, science, technology, engineering, and math. Yo-Yo Ma explains the idea behind this art integration, that “collaboration, flexible thinking, and disciplined imagination” all can “lead to the capacity to innovate.” If the ideas within the arts and sciences were to collaborate, it could provide a more inclusive learning environment for students. Essentially, Yo-Yo Ma argues that adding art to the mix can give something to students that they did not have before.

I believe that in a world filled with many resources and tools, we need both art and science to work together to form new and accurate ideas. Both concepts, art and science, already exist within our world, however there is great power that could be created when combining them. Mark Boslough, author of “We Must Protect U.S. Investment in Scientific Knowledge,” explains a current restriction to science, “They do not realize that a dollar saved is a dollar saved, but it may be two dollars (or more) worth of knowledge lost.” In other terms, Congress feels that science is not worth the money due to the trial and error aspect that is so commonly employed with science. Boslough feels that this saved money allows for a loss of knowledge in the science world. Boslough fails to make a direct connection to the relationship between art and science in his essay. I believe if Congress were to see the connection between art and science, and the way in which art can fill the missing pieces of science, it might provide more funding and increase desire to continue the practice, with the arts included. In “The Future of Science…Is Art?,” Jonah Lehrer mentions that by, “interpreting scientific ideas and theories, the arts can offer science a new lens through which to see itself.” This means that the arts can provide elements to science that it could not get elsewhere. This may allow those people that are skeptical to realize the value and benefits of science, once combined with the arts.

The concept of STEAM, science, technology, engineering, arts, and math, is a concept that is unnecessary and unrealistic to today’s schools. Currently, STEM provides an adequate and functional learning experience to students through it’s range of topics covered. However, some people, like Yo Yo Ma, may challenge my view by insisting that, “the values behind art integration – collaboration, flexible thinking, and disciplined imagination – lead to the capacity to innovate.” While it may be true that the arts can achieve these skills within some students, the arts can also be a significant waste of time in most students’ lives. The arts provide skills that can already be learned through the concepts mentioned in STEM, proving this addition to be unnecessary.

The surrounding context for this essay refers to the when, where, and who wrote this essay. This essay was written in January of 2014 and published by the World Post, an online news site. The site was introduced during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. The essay was written by Yo-Yo Ma, a cellist and songwriter. I found it very interesting that he started performing at age five and has won over seventeen Grammy Awards and produced more than 90 albums since then! He also attended two very profound schools, the Juilliard School and Harvard University.

The imposed context of this essay refers to the purpose I have for reading this. This essay poses some important ideas related to the role of art in this world and the connection between science and art that can be revealed. He discusses that the “elements of empathy provided by artistic endeavors are essential to the kind of balanced thinking needed today.” This relates to the concept of art and science creating an “edge effect,” where equilibrium and global culture are produced. I am very interested in these ideas. The detail about creating “STEAM” instead of “STEM” particularly caught my eye. I fully agree with this concept and feel it is the imposed context. STEAM would mean adding “arts” to STEM, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. I believe this should have been done in the first place! The arts are a very important part of this balance and can play in nicely.

The intentional context is the rhetorical situation within the essay. Yo Yo Ma is arguing the need for arts to become a core concept in a student’s learning experience. He feels that the arts are essential to student growth and development, just as any other subject would be. He explains, “the values behind art integration – collaboration, flexible thinking, and disciplined imagination – lead to the capacity to innovate.” He believes that using skills given by the arts, it can allow students to “innovate,” which is a core concept of STEM.  The arts help us to engage with ourselves and dive deeper into discovering who we are. He says that looking at the world through STEM does not allow us to look beneath the surface, which is what STEAM can do for us.

Unfamiliar Concepts 

new consciousness: a new way of thinking; specifically, a new way of thinking about the relationship between science and art.

lascivious: “inclined to lustfulness.” When discussing culture, Yo Yo Ma includes an idea about the dance movement, “the sarabande,” where he states that it was banned in Spain due to being lascivious.

disciplined imagination: the idea that one cannot be carried away by dreams and thoughts, they must remain realistic. Yo Yo Ma discusses this concept when explaining a skilled pianist that is “open to listening to what is around him but knows that, to reach excellence, he needs to filter the imagination through the discipline of knowledge.”

#1: Urhahn and Koolhaas claimed that throughout all of their projects, when working with all of those people together as one, “you can almost work like in an orchestra, where you can have a hundred instruments playing together to create a symphony.”  I believe that having connections between different groups of people can be something very important in today’s world.

Revision: Urhahn and Koolhaas claimed that throughout all of their projects, when working with all of those people together as one, “you can almost work like in an orchestra, where you can have a hundred instruments playing together to create a symphony.” In other words, there is a lot of beauty in working together to create something worthwhile.  I believe that having connections between different groups of people can be something very important in today’s world.

#2: The analogy stated, “Suppose you saw a child drowning in a pond: would you jump in and rescue her, even if you hadn’t pushed her in?” The idea is that most of us would respond “no” to this question, yet we continue to ignore the people “dying of poverty and preventable disease all over the world.” The EAs support this idea and their foundation is based upon it.

Revision: The philosopher stated, “Suppose you saw a child drowning in a pond: would you jump in and rescue her, even if you hadn’t pushed her in?” The idea is that most of us would respond “no” to this question, yet we continue to ignore the people “dying of poverty and preventable disease all over the world.” Basically, Singer is presenting the idea that most of us claim we would jump into that pond to save that child, yet we ignore the real issue of people dying of poverty and disease. The EAs support this idea and their foundation is based upon it.