Prompt: It has been said that “Not everything that is learned is contained in books.” Compare and contrast knowledge gained from experience with knowledge gained from books. In your opinion, which source is more important? Why?
My essay:
Undoubtedly, books have always been the main source of knowledge for people. Personally, I believe that knowledge gained from experience is more important than the one gained from textbooks. I feel this way for two main reasons which I will explore in the following essay.
To begin with, in most cases books focus solely on providing theoretical knowledge. In other words, they usually present indisputable facts or deductions of learned people who have expertise in the field and conducted various researches on a certain topic. However, scarcely ever can the content of textbooks be applied directly in daily life. My personal experience is a compelling example of this, when I studied Computer Science in university, our professors lectured only on the theory of programming. Even though I had fully understood the theory, when I was required to develop a mobile application on my own for the first time, I realized that I could not do it. That was because I had no practical knowledge of coding and the theory I had learned did not apply to this task without some modifications being made first.
In contrast, knowledge gained from experience proves to be considerably more useful in daily life since it is more practical. To be more specific, no book can teach you how to deal with everyday problems or situations that you might encounter in real life. Even in the majority of workplaces, the highest positions are assigned to the most experienced workers and therefore people that only possess academic knowledge about a certain field are often unfavored. For instance, in my last job, my manager had no degree at all, however he had so many years of experience in this certain job, that no one else could lead the department better than him. When he was on vacation for a month, another employee who had graduated from a prestigious university was called in to substitute for him. In spite of his vast academic knowledge regarding this field he ended up dismantling the entire department as he did not have enough experience and lacked certain leadership skills that can be only developed through practice.
In conclusion, although books are essential in the educational process, I am of the opinion that experience is even more important. This is because it enables us to acquire valuable skills that will benefit us later in our daily lives.
3 Likes