Writing Feedback / GRE AW issue 131 The arts reveal the otherwise hidden ideas and impulses of a society [3]

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131"The arts (painting, music, literature, etc.) reveal the otherwise hidden ideas and impulses of a society."

It has been said that art is derived from and at the same time beyond everyday life. In light of this statement, the artist is expected to explore the hidden thoughts of a society and voice the unvoiced for the masses. However, the hidden ideas and impulses of a society are so complex that arts still have its limits. Thus, I partly disagree with the assertion of the speaker.

The long river of history sees how the works of arts mirror the real but hidden ideas of human societies. For example, numerous painters in different styles emerged during the Renaissance, yet most of the splendid works were around the subject of anti-theocracy, and its humanist philosophy was meaning to break the mortification of people's mind and body, which exactly reveal the real underpowered thoughts at that time. During the Second World War, Picasso's work, Guernica, expressed his intense rage against Nazi and reflected the anguished crying of people suffering from the war. He said, Art is a lie that brings us nearer to the truth. Moreover, by a simple glimpse of today's graffiti, or rather, political cartoon, we can find the hidden humor behind some critical issues, which reveal some of the masses' ideas. With regard to the music, its lyrics, melody, and tempo more explicitly and strongly utter the hidden voice of a society. For example, the Black Music, emerging from or influenced by the culture of African Americans, was gradually evolved from the field hollers and work songs of black slaves, which embodied the repressed emotions of slaves and consequently reveal the invisible picture in such a society. Also, rock and roll, in today's society, brings to light many social problems and shout out their feelings towards some hidden social phenomenon.

However, whether arts are in the hands of common people instead of ruling classes is the premise to the mentioned functions of arts. For example, if all the works have to be strictly censored by the government, real arts which reveal the true but dark side of society will sink into obscurity and the mainstream of arts will become tools of the ruling class to present a false picture of peace and prosperity. For example, in Song dynasty in China, the conflicts intensified all around the society, and more political struggles appeared, but some of the literatures in upper class still indulged in luxury and dissipation and exaggeratedly eulogized the glory of the royalty. Similarly, during the "culture revolution" in the late 60's in China, any voice, let alone arts, that did not conform to the main value would be punished, and only those works catering to the so-called right notion would be publicized widely. In such kind of society, arts may not reveal the real hidden ideas but mislead people to some extent.

In addition, as a matter of fact, some of today's arts have become more of merchandise than the real hidden soul of society mixed with so much material and utilitarian things. The works of art should be the products of artists' strong passion and creative impulse, which can be favored and appreciated instead of intentionally obtaining interests. If an artist becomes a merchant mainly focusing on earning money and pleasing certain institutions rather than thinking, discovering, and tasting the hidden impulses of life and society, his works will lose the essence of arts. Accordingly, we can see nothing from such works except for some claptrap to amuse the public.

After all, arts will ever belongs to certain groups of people, no matter how great they are. Although the works can somewhat reveal the hidden thoughts in society, they still have strongly subjective moods, which cannot express the hidden ideas and impulses of a society in an objective way. So, in order to reveal more comprehensive thoughts of a society, more people's voice should be heard.

Writing Feedback / GRE AW issue "Student should bring a certain skepticism to whatever they study" [NEW]

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153"Students should bring a certain skepticism to whatever they study. They should question what they are taught instead of accepting it passively."

Every considerable progress made in the process of social development could be somewhat ascribed to skepticism. In every field of human society, people overthrow the old theories and establish new ones or make any inventions by the way they ask questions and bring skepticism. Thus, I strongly agree with the speaker's assertion. Additionally, students should not only be aware of the importance of skepticism, but also build up a systematical style of thinking.

From contradictive examples of how societies will operate under different attitudes towards skepticism, we can further understand the significance of the query. One example is, in the benighted Middle Ages, people's minds were deeply shackled under the arbitrary ruling of the Roman Catholic Church in West Europe. The person who brought up new ideas that disaccorded with the ideological system would be regarded as heterodoxy and even be sentenced to death, such as the Italian philosopher Bruno, was burned at the stake because his cosmic theory of an infinite universe offended the religion. We can also see the similar situation of the Qin dynasty in China ruled by Qin Shi Huang, who ordered to burn the books and bury the scholars alive and do not allow people to have any chance to question the governing system. Both the mentioned social morphology finally resulted in disasters of its people, poor culture, low level of productivity forces and social retrogression, and they ultimately went to decadency and death. However, another example on the contrary is the social formation during renaissance. With minds unfettered, people were brave to use their critical eyes and rational thoughts to judge the country, the power, the law, and the religion. And the theocracy was totally subverted and would be finally replaced by enlightened political system. No era would create more notable figures than this period of time considering the great achievements in almost every domain of the world. In the field of science, there are Copernicus, Galileo, and Cardano; In art, there are Michelangelo, Raphael, and Leonardo da Vinci(who was also a scientist); In philosophy, Dante and Desiderius Erasmus. Elements of skepticism may be found in every details of their accomplishment, which brought about a brand-new epoch and exerted profound impact on the modern society.

In terms of education, the more a student asks questions and brings skepticism to what he studies, the more he involves himself in real learning. Not all information provided in books or by teachers is absolutely infallible, thus, being somewhat a skeptic will not only help you truly understand and effectively absorb knowledge, but also help to perfect or rectify the current theories, which will consequently benefit others and descendants. Accordingly, the teachers should be open to the skepticism brought by their students, and always update themselves by moderate self-denial.

There is an old saying goes, "we can never reach the truth but simply get closer to it". Hence, by constantly question and answer, subversion and construction, we push the world forward. For example, we all accept the principle that the sum of the angles of every triangle equals 180 deg. However, the German mathematician, F-K-Schweikart, questioned this seemed undoubtedly correct principle. And then Riemann, another mathematician, inspired by his skepticism, finally established the non-Euclidean geometry, which was then used by Einstein, whose relativity theory was largely on the ground of Riemannian geometry.

However, undue or blind skepticism might be counterproductive in educating students. Youngsters should first establish a foundation of experiential knowledge and develop a healthy style of systematical thinking habits before asking critical questions about what they are learning, otherwise it will reduce efficiency in learning by constantly bringing about meaningless questions. Therefore, the destination of education is not to instill all information into students' head, and is not to unconditionally answer students' questions, but to help students form a healthy mode of thinking, by which students will have the capacity to create, to distinguish the right from the wrong, and to reach a new level of human intellect by standing on the shoulders of giants.

In conclusion, skepticism is of great benefit to the progress of both individuals and collective, and thus students should be brave to question what they are learning on the condition that they had formed a healthy way of thinking.