Value/danger of learning

The Value of Learning

Name

School

The individual can choose to stay ignorant and live without a care for the harsh realities outside the comfort of his home and family . To be unaware is to live a more peaceful life in that one is not bothered with the plights of others . Or one can choose to be aware of the issues that abound in society from inequalities , injustices to destructions inflicted upon the environment . To be aware is to be bothered with things that might involve or affect the concerned individual

but indirectly . Learning is a process that results to the latter . To take the initiative to learn means to allow the opinions , concerns , and experiences of other people affect the individual . The value of learning is to bother the individual so that he would be moved , encouraged , even forced sometimes , to translate acquired knowledge into action

Learning occurs in many ways . The majority goes to school and through the years develop their personalities and intelligence by absorbing the many lessons that their teachers inculcate in them . Going to school also teaches the individual lessons that are beyond the classroom walls like making relationships with people and using school-learned knowledge into practical aspects of life . People also learn from gathering lessons about life 's realities through the lives of others that they cross paths with as they get on with living . They learn from neighbors , friends strangers , and situations that they are faced with

In spite the contention that experience is the best teacher , a truth is that the life of an individual is limited . One lifetime is not enough to live the experiences of many people . This is where the importance of reading and learning by poring over the words of others narrating their own experiences comes and requires stressing

Malcolm X and Richard Wright are historical figures that were important to the Civil Rights movement that eventually led to calls for equality between the white and black races in America . Their own writings containing their ideas and experiences as they campaigned for the human rights of black Americans , inspired generations after them . In his essay , The Library Card , Richard Wright describes how reading awakened him and made him question realities that he has long accepted and thought of as mere norms . At a time when most blacks were not encouraged to read and ignorance kept them in servitude , what started out as curiosity about H .L . Mencken for Wright became a hunger for more knowledge . The accumulation was followed by realizations , which in turn was followed by uneasiness : My days and nights were one long , quiet continuously contained dream of terror , tension , and anxiety . I wondered how long I could bear it (Wright ' This mental anguish began a series of writings on segregation and discrimination that are studied and reflected on until now

A similar experience happened to Malcolm X , considered as an inspiration for succeeding Civil Rights leaders especially Martin Luther King . His convictions began to take...