DailyPost 2032
IF PURPOSE OF KNOWLEDGE IS KNOWLEDGE ITSELF…
If the purpose of knowledge is knowledge itself, it is bound to be with you forever. The basic question is whether the purpose of the large proportion of our population is knowledge or not? This applies even to people who are supposedly propelling the knowledge economy. In reality what we talk of, while talking about knowledge is some study or course, and its successful completion makes you knowledgeable. This is a presumption which has become so deep seated that it is well nigh impossible to take it out of our DNA. Educational institutions thrive on this false notion of knowledge and are really raking in bountiful commercial returns. If job gets attached at the so-called knowledge tunnel, the story is fully and satisfactorily complete.
If you ask a large chunk of the student fraternity, who would have just graduated, as to what knowledge is, they would be at their wits end. Nobody has ever defined it for them in their 15/16 years of education and they have also not cared to find out. But by queer logic they pass judgements on somebody being knowledgeable or not. This is the perception of knowledge that is killing us. Knowledge has become an open and shut case of degrees and jobs. And the battle for jobs is based on the argument of a degree and not on the knowledge he or she possesses. Endowed with knowledge he would not be left behind in any race of life and even after reaching dead end he will find his way.
Having looked at knowledge through the above-mentioned prism, we can never move on the correct trajectory of knowledge and reap the benefits thereof. The effort component gets completely diluted, quantum and timelines get attached to it. Few answers in a quiz or a smooth speech even off the topic is enough to declare yourself knowledgeable. India works on the self-certification knowledge model. Whatever might be the area, we have not been able to create a class of knowledge practitioners, who remain an asset at all times. Reading and assimilating is at its core and we have created a non-reading generation. If knowledge is not the purpose and goal of the educational system and the individual himself, nothing else will help him stand on his own feet.
”Buffet reportedly spends as much as six hours a day reading books. It may be a daunting prospect for most busy people, but if you’re up to the task, the Oracle of Omaha advises that we read 500 pages every day.” He says that’s how knowledge works- ”it builds up like compound interest.” He has the same value investing model here as well, actually that has fed on the nature of knowledge he is talking about. What this level of knowledge can do in any profession or field is fully demonstrated by Warren Buffet. From Warren Buffet to Noam Chomsky to scores of luminaries the world over, have made immense contributions in different fields and made the world that it is today. Let’s not our myopic perception of knowledge dictate our life and decimate our destiny. Human race is meant to achieve much bigger things and this is the ultimate tool.
YOU PERCEPTION OF KNOWLEDGE WOULD DEFINE ITS ACQUISTION.
Sanjay Sahay