Advancement is defined as a process of improving one’s ken, by continuous learning of new facts and concepts. Advancement in other words, may be defined as an application of acquired knowledge, which further exhilarates new discoveries and inventions, and paves the way for betterment of living standards. The former definition refers to personal advancement, while the latter refers to societal advancement. Thus one can infer that, personal advancement engenders societal advancement, and for the former to be possible, knowledge of various fields is imperative.
Advancement in a particular field, requires an expertise over various fields. If one acquires knowledge of various fields, he can compile the data and archives effectively, and can reach to final conclusions with much ease. If one has an expertise over a particular field or a subject, he may seek others’ help to ascertain out things and reach to a final conclusion. This aggrandizes effective time, effort and cost required for completion of a discovery or an invention. Following examples bolster the above stated facts, if an archaeologist has an expertise over his own field, he can surely find out relics and remains of the past. But, to ascertain the age of a fossil or a relic, experts from other fields i.e. biology are required, which further increases the required cost, effort and time. Also, if engineers possess knowledge peculiar to their field, whether it be mechanical, electrical, civil or computers, they fail to innovate better methods and devices. Thus, for an invention or a discovery to be possible, a great cost has to be disbursed.
On the other hand, if a person has expertise over various fields, he can easily ascertain out important conclusions, which significantly reduce time, effort and cost required for completion of an invention or a discovery. Furthermore, this reduces expenditure on consultancy of experts from various fields, and therefore, inventions and discoveries turn out to be effective, yet, economical. Citing the above examples again to buttress these facts, an archaeologist, who is well conversant with the subject of biology, can easily ascertain out the age of a fossil using carbon dating techniques. Also, knowledge of astronomy, helps him to find the locations of ancient cities, which were built apropos the position of stars and constellations. In addition to this, if an electronics engineer is well acquainted with the subjects of mechanics and computers, he can build and program robots, without seeking a lending hand from experts of other fields. Also, if he is well conversant with the subject of economics, he can devise cost effective techniques and devices. In addition to this, if a student of philosophy has a good command over other subjects, which deal with real world problems, he can beget his thesis effectively, using examples and illustrations from various fields.
Hence, in summary, an expertise over various fields, serves as an impetus for economic and time effective advancements. Albeit, the task of achieving expertise in various fields is not an easy one, but one can easily infer, that advancements, which come out as a result of expertise over various fields, surely pay for themselves.
TOEFL listening discussions: A conversation between a university adviser and a student