Entrevistas en Ingles (Original)

Miss Lili:

1. What is the beauty in the process of education?

Beauty in the process of education is the ability to present material to students in a beautiful way; in a way which is attractive. Ultimate beauty is when a student actually understands the reason behind what he or she is doing. As a teacher, I have the most beautiful job in the world, which is to work with beautiful minds!

2. Has beauty changed with technology? If so, how?

Everything has changed with technology. We now feel that surfing the net and looking at beautiful scenes of nature can replace actually going there, smelling the grass and touching trees or even dipping our toes in a flowing stream. Of course technology has made our lives easier in many ways, but it has also replaced real life experiences with digital images which people seem to think can replace what is authentic.

3. Is there a specific culture that best expresses beauty?

Standards of beauty vary from one culture to another and so do the ways in which they express beauty. I don’t know of a culture that expresses beauty in a better way than others.

4. How has the definition of beauty changed over time?

People now focus more on materialistic beauty rather than on inner beauty. It is present in advertisements especially related to women.  

5. What is the purpose of beauty?

The word “purpose” makes it sound like “Beauty” has a job or function and it may. When we make food, we do our best to present it in a way that is appealing to the eye, so the purpose in this case is to make the food look more appetizing. Also, when a person goes to a job interview, he/she wears a suit and this is to reflect a professional image. Therefore, the purpose of beauty varies from one situation to another.

Mr. Dan:

1.What is the beauty in the process of education? 

There are many ways I could answer this question, but what first comes to mind is the beauty of what the process of education can teach you about yourself. You learn about your work habits, your ability to embrace a challenge and manage stress, to organize your thoughts, your time, and your priorities; you discover the power and fragility of working with others; and, if done right, the process of education can help you hone in on your beliefs and your passions. I think there is a certain beauty in mastering each of these things — it's the process of mastering yourself. 

2.    Has beauty changed with technology? If so, how?

It is hard for me to decide whether for the better or the worse, but I think beauty has definitely changed with technology. The obvious answer is that technology has made us lazier: today, we consume more than we create. However, I think you can also argue that technology has also led to an explosion of creativity. I think there is beauty in all sorts of discovery and adventure, be it physicists pursuing the Higgs boson, artists sampling tracks of music, or teenagers posting their photography on Instagram.

3.Is there a specific culture that best expresses beauty? 

That's hard to say. I think there may be cultures that emphasize beauty more than others do. There may be cultures that care about broadcasting their ideas of beauty more than others. There may be cultures that have more influence than others, and therefore their ideas of beauty are adopted (or imposed) on a larger scale than others. But I'm not sure I'm equipped to answer that question. I would need an encyclopedic knowledge of global cultures and a solid definition of beauty, and I think I have neither.

4.How has the definition of beauty changed over time?

I see this question as related to the previous two. While there are some aspects of beauty that are universal — demonstrated by the psych studies that show people from around the world in agreement over "beautiful" facial features — much of beauty is shaped by culture and technology. For that reason, the definition of beauty may have changed very little over time in some places, but changed dramatically in others. This is just a guess, but I think that it'd make sense if ideas of beauty might have changed the most in areas with either dramatic technological and scientific advances or with some traumatic rupture in society — a natural disaster, imperialism, or a revolution.

5.What is the purpose of beauty?

The point of beauty is to enrich our lives and to make our world more interesting. On the other hand, beauty can also be competitive — that's the biological purpose of beauty, right? Who creates more beauty? Who embodies more beauty? Who appreciates beauty the most? Oftentimes, I think that these attitudes lead to a skewed concept of beauty, but I know that there are just as many opportunities for competition in beauty as there are for collaboration. (As an aside, I think both competition and collaboration can be quite beautiful, in their own right.)

Mr. John

1.What is the beauty in the process of education? 

At least to me, beauty in education is the struggle to learn and grow. I love an old saying, "The struggle and the dance are the same." What I love is finding the right place for the challenge for a student and allowing them to struggle, supporting and encouraging them to break through and break free. That to me is such a beautiful chrysalis.

2.Has beauty changed with technology? If so, how? 

Technology has allowed me to focus even more on the thinking process in education. With the advent of Google it is clearer and clearer that a student can google any piece of information, so education is less and less about my telling a student about information, but the inspiration of cultivating a curiosity to need information, and then how to articulate what the information might mean.

3.Is there a specific culture that best expresses beauty?

I can't think of a culture that doesn't have a aspiration for beauty. Western cultures have tended towards naturalism and realism as beauty, while eastern and african cultures have tended toward abstract notion of beauty. I think once you immerse yourself into the culture it is easy to understand and appreciate another culture's concept of beauty.

4. How has the definition of beauty changed over time?

In the west beauty has gone from something that activated your faith towards in the 20th century when beauty, for some artists and appreciators of art, became an "aggressive" and in-your-face beauty that challenged what "beauty" means. So-called modern art, art of the last 120 years, is hard for some people because these artists want to challenge what we think beauty must be, and felt that it must be constantly evolving.

5.What is the purpose of beauty?

What a great question! If I go with the answers I have here, about education and art, then beauty is what keeps us on our toes. While a pretty day might be "beautiful" according to my definitions here, beauty must be about evolution and progress, it must be that beauty is what makes us ache for a new understanding. Beauty is what reminds us that we are alive and must fulfill our potential.