Tell me something, how many of you were unhappy with your O levels or A levels (or any other academic qualification) results? Well, Science says that you can blame your genes or your loud neighbour or your boyfriend for that but one thing that you shouldn't blame is being a left-brained or a right-brained learner.
I know it sounds really cute when u say ‘Oh I don’t know anything about math. I can’t really help it, I am right brained’. Well, I am sorry to break it to you but it’s just another myth. The popular idea is that the right brain is only responsible for emotion and visual imagery and the left brain for reason and language. And hence, artists fell into the right brain category while the scientists found themselves in the left brain category. But the truth is that we need both our hemispheres for reason and we need both our hemispheres for emotion. Nearly everything that you do requires you to use both hemispheres of your brain, even the most mundane things like saying goodbye.
Now an interconnected theory says that left handed people are more creative than the right handed people, since they use their right hemisphere slightly more than the left and according to popular belief, the right brain controls the left part of your body and the right brain is supposed to be more creative. Now how many of you are left handed? Well I am sorry God didn’t make you any more creative than us. This theory too is nothing more than a myth. The truth is that ambidextrous people, that is, people who use both their hands for various tasks, are more creative thinkers than one-handed people. Because left handed people are more likely to be ambidextrous than right handed people, it is often wrongly believed that left handed people are more creative. And since being ambidextrous comprises of both the hemispheres communicating a lot, we can say that creativity is not limited to just the right brain.
Now I think we have become so used to this idea of the divided brain, of being right brained or left brained that it is causing problems for us. People were always shocked when I told them that my A level subjects were Art, Physics, Math and English literature. And to be honest, I enjoyed the bewildered expression on their face which clearly said “Oh my God, what is she going to do in life!” When I finished my A levels, I didn’t know where to go for college because there is simply no institution in Pakistan where I could do both the sciences and arts together. Medical Schools only teach you medicine, Business Schools only Buisness and Art Schools only Art.
We think of the arts and sciences as different, while this notion is not at all true. The difference between arts and sciences is not intuitive vs analytical. E=MC squared required an intuitive leap, and then you had to do the analysis afterwards. Painting is all about expressing emotion but then you have to analytically figure out exactly what colours to use, what technique to use.
Now that I am currently studying for Bachelors in Computer Science, I still wake up in the middle of the night, thinking “why didn’t I go to med school?” or “why didn’t I go to an Art School?” And my folks tell me its high time that I should really focus on one field of study. People are always forcing you to choose between the arts and sciences. But it would really be absurd to choose either one, right? Intuitive versus analytical? That's an imprudent choice. It's foolish, just like trying to choose between being pessimism and optimism. The truth is that you need both in life.
Bibliography
• ‘The Divided Brain’ book by Iain McGilchrist
• http://www.ted.com/talks/mae_jemison_on_teaching_arts_and_sciences_together/transcript?language=en#t-743000
• https://www.ted.com/talks/ben_ambridge_10_myths_about_psychology_debunked/transcript?language=en
