The surrounding context for Yo-Yo Ma’s essay is to incorporate art into the STEM education. If we were to do that, we would have a better understanding of the curriculum and the world in general. This essay was first published on the World Post in January 2014. The author of this essay is Yo-Yo Ma. He is very smart, musical, and has earned a lot of awards. He is a very accomplished man, in my opinion.

Yo-Yo Ma describes the importance of incorporating art into the learning system and the world. He thinks that without it, people are not as well educated and that the world is missing out on a huge part of society. Personally, I know that art has helped me to see different sides of stories and decipher things differently. Without art, I would not be as widely influenced as I am now. My purpose for reading this text is to bring myself aware of how art can affect our world and education system. Art is very important in a growing world and education system. It will help people become smarter, more aware, and on edge with their thoughts.

The rhetorical situation in this essay is the equilibrium of society and its necessary edges. Personally, I believe that you do need some of these edges but not all of them to has a sense of equilibrium. The scope is them using these “necessary edges” to find equilibrium. I don’t believe that everyone will be able to receive these necessary edges all the time because some people just won’t understand it or want to learn about it. The “so what?” is if the world actually does include STEAM instead of just STEM. What will happen to our society? Will it actually help or hurt us more? How will it help with the current suffering world situation?

Magnate- Someone of wealth and influential advice (YO-YO Ma describes this word as Elon Musk who is the owner of Tesla).

Interface- Where two points or places meet (YO-YO Ma describes this word as to where the least density and greatest diversity meet).

Empathetic- Being able to show and understand feelings of your own and others (YO-YO Ma describes this word as adding expressions and feelings of the arts into STEAM).