Surrounding context: Yo -Yo Ma is an accomplished cellist and songwriter and has been recognized for decades, receiving various awards for his craft and successfully publishing this essay in 2014. Ma dedicates his essay to the education system and suggests a few different ways that it could be done better.
Imposed context: It occured to me that Ma’s audience can be very broad. Where he challenges the efficacy of hard science v.s. The arts, he could attract a very controversial group of people. The reason for the essay, Ma explains, is to inspire a second sense of enlightenment, where students incorporate the arts as an essential balance to the common STEM curricula. This idea should inspire us to consider new possibilities moving forward, using this ‘art’ building block as a stepping stone, thanks Yo Yo Ma!
Intentional context: This idea that integrating art, or awareness, into our focus in education is a brilliant idea. Ma so clearly articulates what the benefits would be and how this could lead to an entirely new standard of learning. He first outlines what the arts can do for us from an educational standpoint, then he takes it two steps further. First, he explains how when your imagination grows you can learn that there is a connection on this planet that is larger than life itself, and art helps us strengthen that connection. Second, he implies it will help of find meaning and love, art will help us find an essential spiritual balance and help us engage with our deepest emotions. This essay is phenomenal and exploring the implications that are suggested is absolutely liberating!
Specializations- the act of specializing, or pursuing a particular line of study or work
Globalization- the process by which businesses or other organizations develop international
influence or start operating on an international scale.
Lascivious- feeling or revealing an overt and often offensive sexual desire.
