Balancing Act

Shattered glass, chemicals burning holes in tables, a rainbow of colors bubbling on table tops and splashing on white, clean gowns these are some possibilities of what may happen when, in a tripod, one leg snaps. The container it carries will fall and break, spilling the contents and making a jumbled up mess. A delicate balance is formed between the three legs making them equally important. The three legs are equally long and distanced, meeting to form a ring at their middle the ring which holds the fragile container. This is knowledge supported by three legs namely science, history and art. Where science pumps the analytical portion of the brain, history revives memories and the arts induce creative thinking. But as the world continues to spin and people become more eager to move forward, science is starting to take precedence over the latter two, threatening to destroy the balance among the three. This can be seen in the youth of today who are getting more eager to immerse themselves into the world of technology, relegating history and arts to the background. Even in schooling, this is becoming more apparent with all the science high schools sprouting all over the country. While it is good to keep our minds leaning into the future, we should not forget our past and culture. The curriculum of basic education should focus not only on science and technology but also on subjects like history and arts which are just as relevant in todays world. It is understandable why history and arts slowly fade into the background as time continues to tick. Science and technology has made life easier for most of us. Tractors remove much of the labor put in to farming. Vacuum cleaners make it faster to clean up a mess. Computers and printers annihilated old typewriters in producing mass copies of books or essays. All around us, science has made living a lot easier. (Greene, 2008)

Gone are the days when we would sit for hours at a time, thinking up new ways to spend our time. Again, science brought us alternatives in the forms of radios and televisions with the satellites broadcasting hundreds of channels and stations. Children and adults alike are absorbed in their PSPs, iPods, Game boys, and the like. Science has also done something seemingly impossible it bridged continents and countries millions of miles away. Travelling is no longer a necessity in talking to loved ones who are far from us. Communication is as easy as a push of a button. Science has given us telephones which evolved to cellular phones and internet connections. People now use these as tools to close the gap created by oceans and land masses, making it no sweat to connect to our loved ones abroad. Science indeed, has brought great discoveries to our world and it is also because of science that we are now leading a fast track life. It is because of technology that history and art may seem irrelevant. People always want to keep moving forward, making their eyes blindsighted to what is already there. Science has taught most of us to continuously expect upgrades from what it has provided us now. The rapid progress makes it hard for some people to stop and appreciate what they already have. Instead, they yearn for more. People dont realize the beauty of simplicity and how uncomplicated things used to be, the beauty of the past. People need to see that without the output from the past, science isnt all that impressive. The computers and laptops would not be hot items if they werent preceded by typewriters or worse, the pen and paper. Cars wouldnt be so flashy if tricycles and horse drawn carriages didnt come before them. We progress in the field of science because we get concepts from past events. The past stimulates scientists and become their driving force. Scientists are fueled to discover or construct new technology to explain the human origin and the origin of the universe. With inventing new

machines like particle accelerators and microscopes to trace our ancestry, scientists not only gain milestones to explain our heritage, they gain knowledge outside their purpose. By reading our history, people see what went wrong in the past and try to prevent those events from happening again. In the field of medicine, scientists try to discover cures for sicknesses because they dont want epidemics that happened in the past to repeat themselves. In military strategizing, past events are taken into account and new weapons and armories are made to make up for past mistakes. (Crabtree, 1993) These two fields of study, history and science, make up the two separate legs of the tripod. Two legs though, still do not complete our tripod. The leg that completes the instrument is embodied by art and creativity. They work hand in hand with science, complimenting the other and forming a whole. Scientific discoveries dont just surface out of nowhere. Ideas are formed in the head of a person and from there, the person works on the idea until it blossoms into the persons desired product. And where do ideas come from? Isaac Newton couldnt have done all his experiments without any spark of imagination. Galileo couldnt have thought of diluting the force of gravity of balls in motion using inclines if he didnt have an imaginative mind. (Gamow, 1961) Einstein couldnt have formed his special theories of relativity if he didnt see things in a different light. People come up with new ideas or explanations to unknown things because they have the imagination to fuel it. These scientific discoveries arent the only products of art and science. The machines we see now are results of the combination of mechanism concepts and creativity and design. The mechanism of a machine alone cannot sell the product to the people. The success rate of a new machine not only depends on its effectiveness but also on its over-all design. We cannot say that

a machine is worthwhile just because it functions well and gets the work done. Yes, the machine works well but if it is not user friendly, it will not sell. If the machine is intimidating to the eyes of common folk, people will think twice when purchasing the appliance. The aesthetic appeal affects the machines market and ability to attract attention. (Lisle) Art and creativity help fuel great minds and can spark the start of great scientific discoveries and new technology. In order to balance things out, science returns the favor to art. New computer programs are developed to enhance and replicate art and to restore old paintings, drawings, etc. Masterpieces, works of art and artifacts from the 1900s or older are restored and preserved because of technology. Photographs are no longer just black and white. High tech cameras make photographs in vivid colors and different effects, possible. New forms of art, like visual art and 3D animation has branched out due to technology. Art has made great leaps due to science just like science has progressed because of art and creativity. Indeed, science, history and art are three entities that combine to make the progress we are experiencing in our world today, possible. They form the tripod that balances our container of knowledge, but more than that, they balance the world we live in. One leg cannot be larger than the other. Science cannot take precedence and history and art cannot be shoved aside. They should complement the other, protect the other, otherwise the balance is shattered and the container they are holding would fall and crack.

Sources: Gamow, G. (1961). Biography of Physics, Chapter II. New York: Harper Torchbooks. Greene, B. (2008). Put a Little Science Into Your Life. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/01/opinion/01greene.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1

Lisle, B. No year. Modern Design and the Machine Aesthetic. Modern Design and the Machine Aesthetic. Retrieved from http://xroads.virginia.edu/~MA01/Lisle/30home/modern/modern.html

Crabtree, D. (1993) The Importance of History. McKenzie study Center. Retrieved from http://www.mckenziestudycenter.org/society/articles/history.html

NA. (2008). Importance of Science. All Free Essays. Retrieved from http://www.allfreeessays.com/essays/Importance-Science/4938.html