ESL Blogs

Is it better for people to learn from others than to learn on their own?

In my opinion learning from others have many advantages over learning for yourself. People should learn to use the experience of others and trust it; nowadays there are too much things to learn. On the other hand when people have learned something on their very own they are liable to be too self-confident and thus may cause mistakes. Moreover, complicated information sometimes is difficult to understand and obtain when you are on your own and while its studying may be time-consuming, it also can be misunderstood.

At present there is plenty of knowledge to obtain, but usually we do not have enough time for its mastering. Learning from others is the fastest way to achieve that. Actually we start to learn from others from very young age as babies. We learn to talk as we perceive and imitate our parents or our elder siblings. When we go to school we have to take most of the things for granted; it will impossible for everyone to discover and prove every theorem in math or to invent a microscope and then use it to observe cells. The science could not advance if people had to learn on their own and not to use what others have achieved and invented.

When people learn something alone they tend to be assured that they have done it faultlessly and that they are experts in that area. Sometimes it is hard to understand what you still do not know and thus may result in errors, made by cursory look or insufficient expertise. Although others may have tried to teach an important lesson, some people are eager to learn that lesson in a hard way; by the method of trial and error. Such lesson may be “do not ever get drunk” and such an obstinate person is me. In spite of the experience of my relatives and friends.