GRE® essay: We learn through direct experience, to accept theory without...

[Manish3889]

Dear Teachers, native speakers and language lovers,
Please proof read my essay, as I am preparing for GRE, and comment on my mistake.

Essay Topic

“We learn through direct experience, to accept theory without experience is to learn nothing at all.”

Learning is a continuous process. But how one should learn depend upon individual skills and what is that things he is going to learn. To learn something by direct experience is better compare to learning by just accepting theory. However, learning by theory is also important if you want to excel in particular field or if you want to have broad knowledge.

As children grow up they learn many basic process of life such as, how to eat, dress and walk. They learn these process by imitating their family members in general and parents in particular. In this case, if you give him a book and try to make him understand the basic process of life then they wouldn`t understand. It will be beyond their comprehension. So, here they tend to learn better by direct experience rather than by following rules and regulations mention in the book.

Another example I would like to add as why learning direct experience helps better learning involving car driving. If a person wants to learn driving he ought to have hands on experience to drive perfectly in the road. No matter how much he had gone through manual studying steps to drive, he will have to have hands on experience of driving. It will not only give him confidence but also the feel of driving. It will give him a sense of required judgment as when to apply the brake to stop at particular point.

However, learning by experience is stereotypical in nature. One may be the doing the same things in an outdated fashion or pattern. Their learning is limited to that particular style lacking innovation. They stop doing the things in different way because it may appear risky. For instance, a person working in chemical industry may be following the same pattern of work from ages. He will not be knowing the risk associated with it until he meet any accident. Had he studied the risk factors associated with the job he is taking, then he wouldn`t have met any accident.

Need of learning by accepting theory cannot be ruled out as learning in this way gives individual a broad spectrum of knowledge. If a design engineer or scientist has to design a nuclear reactor then he must have thorough knowledge of the associated subjects by reading advanced technical books .Designing of nuclear reactor is not just confined to the knowledge of Chemistry and Physics but it also need great deal of information from Fluid mechanics, Thermodynamics, Structural engineering and Mechanical engineering to mention a few. He cannot design it just on the basis of prior experience. No matter how many years of experience he had in the past, he will have to do extensive literature survey. Not only this will help him to know about various possible causes which may lead to system failure but also it will help him to know about associated potential hazard.

Let us take another example involving chemical industry which prove that people who learn by experience cannot cope up with the pace of fast changing technology. A plant operator is working in a chemical industry from past ten years is well equipped with the operation of PLC (Program Logic Controller). It is a controlling system which helps in controlling parameters like pressure, temperature, flow and level in a chemical equipment. Now with advancement of technology, if that PLC is upgraded to higher version, then the operator will not be able to operate it smoothly. Person who is conversant with the theory of that upgraded version comes into picture. He will be able to make them aware of different features of the new PLC.

In conclusion, both way of learning is important depending upon what is to be learned and where it is to be implemented. Learning by experience will not give you insight of the subject where as theoretical learning will give you deep knowledge of the topic.

Its me Manish Gupta. The above essay has been sent by me.

[Manish3889]

Its me Manish Gupta. The above essay has been sent by me.