The greatest teacher is experience. It is only through first hand experience that any new knowledge can get fixed in the mind. It is rightly said that experience is the best teacher. Anything learnt virtually is only half learnt. Nevertheless, having an experience of the thing puts you at a better position when it comes to learning the concept.
It is the natures way of teaching things to animals as well as humans. A bird would never be able to learn how to fly unless it flaps its wings. Similarly, when a baby comes to this world, he is absolutely new to the world. As he grows up, he begins to observe and incorporate things that he sees in his life. Once he picks up a thing by observing it, he begins to imitate it and thus learn from it. Unless he touches something hot, he would never know what it is to get burnt. Unless he gets cut from a sharp object, or trips from a higher place, he would never understand the meaning of these things and thus will never learn that he should stay away from such things.
Accepting a theory without experiencing it is to remain passive in life. Without experience, one can never know the nature and the extent of any theory. As the famous saying goes only the wearer knows where the shoe pinches, it can be understood that it is only when one indulges that one comes to know about the difficulties of a task. Whether the task is easy or difficult is a question that can be answered only when it is undertaken. For example, while preparing for an exam, if a student goes by just what is told to him by his tutor, there is no surety of his having learnt his lessons properly. On the other hand, if the student has practiced and solved the lesson on his own, he will have a first-hand experience of the problems. He would solve on his own and find out his capabilities, his weaknesses, and thus get a chance of improving himself. This is learning in the real sense.
However, it is also true that everything cannot be experienced. To learn about the moon and its nature, it is not essential to go on the moon. The only way a common man can learn about such far reached things or imaginary theories is when someone tells them something about them. That means you may not have an experience of going on the moon, but it can be understood and perceived by the human mind. Thus, experience cannot be called the sole teacher. Learning happens in an environment where the student is ready to learn what is available to him. Thus, the most important factor in learning is the interest of a student in the subject.
The first step towards learning is made only with the help of a guide. Thus the importance of learning by getting inspired cannot be ignored. It would be an extreme statement to say that without experiencing there is no learning. Learning is a continuous process. It goes on in the subconscious mind, without ones knowledge of it. Since the mind is always working and absorbing things, it has the capacity of picking up ideas and developing them as well. Thus, before you actually experience something the mind has already worked over the issue and prepared a base for it.
Thus learning cannot be restricted to a particular manner. Learning requires a participation of the mind and body. Thus, not only is it important to experience the theories, but it is also important that the learner has a mindset for learning and grasping the things he sees.
Learning is a broad term, it comprises the everlasting journey which begins since the birth of a human being till the death, consciously or unconsciously. When a kid starts his life, nothing could be taught to him without him actually experiencing it. But as soon as he enters the academic life he starts learn thing of which he has no experience at all. It the experience shaping his practical life and the knowledge which is coming without the experience is making him ready for the various experience he is going to have in his future life.
A kid learns to take his first step only by trying several number of times and failing again and again. Its the experience which keeps on improving his trials and the ray of hope alive, that eventually like elders he too can walk. His day to day activities, the way he deals with people and his surrounding depends a lot on his experience. And this is how the process of learning never ends. If learning was possible without any experience then everyone in this world could fly a plane just by reading the book " How to fly an airplane". But human mind is so designed that it retains those things which it actually experiences in a much better way than by reading or listening about that particular thing. No matter how well you know about something, most of the time you would be lagging behind that person who has actually worked on it. Infact the more the knowledge you have the more desperate you would be to experience it in the real world. Its the experience and the knowledge gained with it makes a person superior than the others. That one secret which no one can find in any book comes from the experience and that is what tells you that there is one more way and which is better than the one already known.
Although experience is a highly important part of your life its just the one side of a coin. Human life is full of constraints. Over the thousands of years of development mankind has made exponential progress. To lead a life in this complex world one has to learn and understand a lot many things. When a kid goes to school he learns about history, geography, science, civics and maths. Although it would be great if he can personally go to all d museums around the globe to learn about history and all the countries and different terrains to learn about geography. But that is practically impossible. And thats where the incredibility of a human mind is revealed. Thats what differentiate a human from any other creature discovered till this date. A human has the capability to learn things without actually experiencing them which the others cant. And this knowledge which he acquires in the class or by watching or listening, equips him to tackle the conditions which he faces in the rest of his life. According to me learning through experience is undeniably the best way to learn but you cannot state such a storng statement as to learning without experience is learning nothing at all.
The greatest teacher is experience. It is only through first hand experience that any new knowledge can get fixed in the mind. It is rightly said that experience is the best teacher. Anything learnt virtually is only half learnt. Nevertheless, having an experience of the thing puts you at a better position when it comes to learning the concept.
ReplyDeleteIt is the natures way of teaching things to animals as well as humans. A bird would never be able to learn how to fly unless it flaps its wings. Similarly, when a baby comes to this world, he is absolutely new to the world. As he grows up, he begins to observe and incorporate things that he sees in his life. Once he picks up a thing by observing it, he begins to imitate it and thus learn from it. Unless he touches something hot, he would never know what it is to get burnt. Unless he gets cut from a sharp object, or trips from a higher place, he would never understand the meaning of these things and thus will never learn that he should stay away from such things.
Accepting a theory without experiencing it is to remain passive in life. Without experience, one can never know the nature and the extent of any theory. As the famous saying goes only the wearer knows where the shoe pinches, it can be understood that it is only when one indulges that one comes to know about the difficulties of a task. Whether the task is easy or difficult is a question that can be answered only when it is undertaken. For example, while preparing for an exam, if a student goes by just what is told to him by his tutor, there is no surety of his having learnt his lessons properly. On the other hand, if the student has practiced and solved the lesson on his own, he will have a first-hand experience of the problems. He would solve on his own and find out his capabilities, his weaknesses, and thus get a chance of improving himself. This is learning in the real sense.
However, it is also true that everything cannot be experienced. To learn about the moon and its nature, it is not essential to go on the moon. The only way a common man can learn about such far reached things or imaginary theories is when someone tells them something about them. That means you may not have an experience of going on the moon, but it can be understood and perceived by the human mind. Thus, experience cannot be called the sole teacher. Learning happens in an environment where the student is ready to learn what is available to him. Thus, the most important factor in learning is the interest of a student in the subject.
The first step towards learning is made only with the help of a guide. Thus the importance of learning by getting inspired cannot be ignored. It would be an extreme statement to say that without experiencing there is no learning. Learning is a continuous process. It goes on in the subconscious mind, without ones knowledge of it. Since the mind is always working and absorbing things, it has the capacity of picking up ideas and developing them as well. Thus, before you actually experience something the mind has already worked over the issue and prepared a base for it.
Thus learning cannot be restricted to a particular manner. Learning requires a participation of the mind and body. Thus, not only is it important to experience the theories, but it is also important that the learner has a mindset for learning and grasping the things he sees.
Learning is a broad term, it comprises the everlasting journey which begins since the birth of a human being till the death, consciously or unconsciously. When a kid starts his life, nothing could be taught to him without him actually experiencing it. But as soon as he enters the academic life he starts learn thing of which he has no experience at all. It the experience shaping his practical life and the knowledge which is coming without the experience is making him ready for the various experience he is going to have in his future life.
ReplyDeleteA kid learns to take his first step only by trying several number of times and failing again and again. Its the experience which keeps on improving his trials and the ray of hope alive, that eventually like elders he too can walk. His day to day activities, the way he deals with people and his surrounding depends a lot on his experience. And this is how the process of learning never ends. If learning was possible without any experience then everyone in this world could fly a plane just by reading the book " How to fly an airplane". But human mind is so designed that it retains those things which it actually experiences in a much better way than by reading or listening about that particular thing. No matter how well you know about something, most of the time you would be lagging behind that person who has actually worked on it. Infact the more the knowledge you have the more desperate you would be to experience it in the real world. Its the experience and the knowledge gained with it makes a person superior than the others. That one secret which no one can find in any book comes from the experience and that is what tells you that there is one more way and which is better than the one already known.
Although experience is a highly important part of your life its just the one side of a coin. Human life is full of constraints. Over the thousands of years of development mankind has made exponential progress. To lead a life in this complex world one has to learn and understand a lot many things. When a kid goes to school he learns about history, geography, science, civics and maths. Although it would be great if he can personally go to all d museums around the globe to learn about history and all the countries and different terrains to learn about geography. But that is practically impossible. And thats where the incredibility of a human mind is revealed. Thats what differentiate a human from any other creature discovered till this date. A human has the capability to learn things without actually experiencing them which the others cant. And this knowledge which he acquires in the class or by watching or listening, equips him to tackle the conditions which he faces in the rest of his life. According to me learning through experience is undeniably the best way to learn but you cannot state such a storng statement as to learning without experience is learning nothing at all.