Learning and Accepting Theories
TOPIC 1: WE LEARN THROUGH DIRECT EXPERIENCE; TO ACCEPT A THEORY WITHOUT EXPERIENCING IT IS TO LEARN NOTHING AT ALL.
Learning is a process including both practical experience and theoretical knowledge. We couldn't say that accepting a theory without experiencing it brings us nothing at all; however, we can have a deeper understanding of information if we encounter them in our real lives. And I believe that pragmatic experience is the fastest and easiest way to learn things.
Infants are born knowing nothing, but by imitating adults around, they learn how to eat, walk, talk, etc.. The acts of adults are theories, and infants apply these theories by emulating and experiencing them. Children can never know how to talk if they don't try to speak the first "mom" or "dad." Similarly, scientists get the theories after doing experiments for hundreds of times and learning from the results.
My dad always told me to live an efficient everyday life by making a schedule ahead and strictly following it by minutes since I was in third grade. However, I never took his advice seriously until I decided to come to the US for college. Preparing for SATs, TOEFL, and taking normal Chinese high school classes aiming at Gaokao(Chinese University Entrance Exam) at the same time is such a heavy burden that I sometimes had no time to sleep at all. I was then forced to try to make a study schedule, detailed to minutes. It didn't work very well for the first week, but after revising it for a few times, it not only saved me time for four to five hours' sleep, but also time for exercise. I continued using this method since then and formed a habit of planning my life with a time schedule. If I didn't give that advice a shot and experience it personally, I would never know how great it could help me.
On one hand, experiencing pragmatically is a great way of learning. On the other hand, however, some things are not able to be tested. In Math and Physics, some theories have to be accepted before
Learning is a process including both practical experience and theoretical knowledge. We couldn't say that accepting a theory without experiencing it brings us nothing at all; however, we can have a deeper understanding of information if we encounter them in our real lives. And I believe that pragmatic experience is the fastest and easiest way to learn things.
Infants are born knowing nothing, but by imitating adults around, they learn how to eat, walk, talk, etc.. The acts of adults are theories, and infants apply these theories by emulating and experiencing them. Children can never know how to talk if they don't try to speak the first "mom" or "dad." Similarly, scientists get the theories after doing experiments for hundreds of times and learning from the results.
My dad always told me to live an efficient everyday life by making a schedule ahead and strictly following it by minutes since I was in third grade. However, I never took his advice seriously until I decided to come to the US for college. Preparing for SATs, TOEFL, and taking normal Chinese high school classes aiming at Gaokao(Chinese University Entrance Exam) at the same time is such a heavy burden that I sometimes had no time to sleep at all. I was then forced to try to make a study schedule, detailed to minutes. It didn't work very well for the first week, but after revising it for a few times, it not only saved me time for four to five hours' sleep, but also time for exercise. I continued using this method since then and formed a habit of planning my life with a time schedule. If I didn't give that advice a shot and experience it personally, I would never know how great it could help me.
On one hand, experiencing pragmatically is a great way of learning. On the other hand, however, some things are not able to be tested. In Math and Physics, some theories have to be accepted before