Two Cultures

Two cultures has been something that I have been battling for three years of career here at UCLA.  I should preface that statement by saying that my name is Trent Kersten and I am on a varsity sport here at UCLA.  Three years ago our team hired a new coach after our previous coach retired and it was a very dramatic shift in what our team culture was and what we tried to create with the new staff.

There has been a lot of unnecessary loss due to resistance of that change.  There were two distinct groups, people who wanted everything- to win, to have a flourishing social life, and to do well in school.  Then there is the other extreme, people who just wanted to win and did everything they could to bring home a championship to UCLA.  I was in the latter group.  These two cultures had obvious reasons for clashing, similar to a divide which we have on campus; the great North vs South campus majors.

While I feel that we, as students, joke about the north vs south campus majors all the time and make constant jokes about the "other side" of campus.  I believe that people separate themselves into each of their respective groups and can relate better to that group better than they could relate to an opposing side of campus student.  I believe this to be the downfall of the American culture which we have grown up in.  

I can describe this best through an example;  if we were to ask to American's to compete and set up a game with just a simple rule, whoever steps over the line first loses.  The two test subjects would battle it out over the line and eventually somebody would "win".  However in other cultures, specifically eastern cultures, the two would talk prior to competing and would agree to cross the line at the same time.  In this case, both win.  

Cultures try to divide themselves by petty differences in place of relating to each other on the most basic of attributes.  For example, in the North vs South campus example, I believe that we should relate more on the basis of being UCLA students rather then compete over which side of campus your major is located.  

Divides between cultures try too hard to delineate between one another and potential growth is lost.  When trying so hard to prove another person/group wrong there will always be net loss and therefore I believe that after reading the articles from this weeks readings, that instead of creating and talking about each groups differences, perhaps we can grow based on our commonalities.  

Just food for thought.

References:

Photo 1; uclabruins.com -- Trent Kersten player bio 

<http://www.uclabruins.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=30500&ATCLID=207913851>

Photo 2; Ucla map portal -- Dickson Plaza 

<http://maps.ucla.edu/campus/?locid=65185>