A Good Thing About Learning
A Good Thing about Learning Life is full of many different experiences. Throughout their lives, people learn from these various experiences. The information obtained is at times difficult to understand while “in other situations”, it is easy. There is an ancient Greek proverb that says, “All things good to know are difficult to learn. ” I do not agree with this ancient Greek proverb. Things that are beneficial to know are not always hard to learn. The author of this proverb committed an error of presumption. The author assumes that because of his personal experiences, the outcome of learning useful things will be difficult for everyone.
Moreover, the application of this saying to all people generalizes their level of intelligence. The first error that the author commits in this statement is the belief that because of the problems he faced in learning useful things from his own personal experiences, everyone else will have these same types of difficulties. A person’s ability to learn in different types of situations can be effected, by the way, in which we receive the information. There are different ways to learn information. One is to hear information from someone or something else. Another is to see an event take place and learn from it.
Also, people can be physically involved in a situation and learn from it. People can use these three types of learning in any situation. Because of the unpredictability of life every situation will not be presented in a way which is most suitable for people to understand. Yet the way in which the author states the saying makes the assumption that all people learn the same way. The author commits a second error in the phrasing of this proverb. The phrasing of the saying generalizes the intelligence of people. All human beings do not have the same level of intelligence. The intelligence of a person is both inherited and acquired.
Because humans inherit intelligence, a person’s ability to learn comes from their parents in part. All people are not the same. The level of intelligence for two parents is not the same. Hence, a child birthed from the union of two people will have a different level of intelligence. Thus, all people cannot have the same level of intelligence. Secondly, the opportunities for the acquisition of knowledge must be considered “as well”. Some people do not have the resources to gain entry into institutions of higher learning. If they did, then they could gain more knowledge and through that increase their intelligence.
Others live in places where colleges, universities and grade school are not available to them. Furthermore, individuals may have to choose between caring for a family member or the opportunity to obtain a higher education. Even so, the way in which the author voices their opinion, they make the assumption that all people have the same opportunities to increase their level of intelligence. So even though the old Greek proverb says, “All things good to know are difficult to learn”, the statement is fallacious. Sometimes in the desire to hold on to old trusted sayings, people can find themselves trusting in unsupported reasoning.
