Knowledge opens the doors of wisdom and hence is one of the most important aspects of human life. When we talk of knowledge, we however consider the fact that knowledge can be either attained theoretically, that is, by reading books, articles, manuals, etc or practically by applying and then learning. Even though theoretical knowledge, which means “learning and then applying”, is completely contrary to practical knowledge which follows the mantra of “learning by applying”- both of them go hand in and hand, one being futile without the other.
Knowing the definition of an electric motor without knowing the actual mechanism of how it works or being able to narrate the entire World War 2 without knowing the cause behind it is as useless as knowing all the English alphabets but not being able to recognize the words. Plain theoretical knowledge without any application is of only conceptual utility. It gives a push to methods of cramming or mugging, hence nullifying creativity and originality.
In this mayhem of books and notes, we forget to ask the “why” question which can probably be provided by practical learning. Students, graduates, post graduates, post graduates, all of us, probably mastered all he equations of electrochemistry, or the book-keeping records of accountancy, or maybe all the norms and rules of the society listed in sociology books- but do we all know the actual relevance of it? Most of us don’t.
The poignant part is that we live in a country where a practical layman holding a degree is valued much more than an uncertified professional. We would rather go to an inexperienced 20 year old certified doctor instead of going to an 80year old experienced ayurvedic ved?
One of the major problems is that we, as individuals and as a society give much more value to a person who is holding theoretical knowledge than a skilled person who can’t read or write. A traditional craftsman who has attained handy knowledge more than any book can provide, is not considered laudable as much as a person who probably has done PHD in crafts.
The lack of resources for providing skill based as well as conjectural knowledge has contributed to the fact that maximum Indians either hold absolutely bookish knowledge or are practically very skilled but undervalued due to their inability to attain the former.
We are not undermining the value of theoretical knowledge here- it is just as important as applied knowledge. For instance we would not know how to switch on a computer if we can’t even recognize its parts. We won’t be able to carry out monetary transactions if it wasn’t for the addition - subtraction we learned.
In fact just practical knowledge, not only is a setback for an individual but also for the economy. The agricultural sector for instance, employs maximum share of population (which have way more knowledge about the seeds/crops/farms/ etc than any agricultural engineer) but its contribution to GDP is 13.7% according to CSO.
Hence both of them are complementary and completely embrace each other. Theoretical knowledge needs to be applied practically so as to derive maximum benefit.
Author : Malvika Kala
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