Is knowledge useless????

Question

My aunt said that most of the stuff you'll learn in college or whatever will just be useless once you get a job. . .I mean, it's basically saying overachieving is a bad thing. . .

Answer 1

If what your aunt said is correct, let's hope I'm not your doctor if and when I do set up my medical practice.

Answer 2

There is no such thing as useless knowledge, just knowledge that you haven't used.

You'll probably only ever need about 4% of the facts you learned in college, BUT... you don't know what 4% those will be, do you:)? Plus, when would it ever benefit you to not know something? How could anyone look at the situation in Iraq, for example, and think that studying world and even ancient history is pointless? Or that exposing yourself to great literature (even that which you don't like) is wasted time (Thomas Jefferson divided all books into IMAGINATION & MEMORY and both are important).

In other words, your aunt's wrong. Sorry. She's probably p.o.d at not doing well on Jeopardy. ;)

Answer 3

Very few colleges impart knowledge. It is just information, reported by others in a arranged manner.
Such 'stuff' even gets evaporated soon after landing at a job, unless it is invoked (even if the hard way!).
Knowledge is when we become capable of using such processed information.
Wisdom is when we know when & how to use such information.
The job makes us know what is needed (because of the sense of security, the job security that we chase).
There is no 'overachieving' actually. We might have wasted time, mugging , vomitting(in exams), and allowing the residue to be evaporated later.

Answer 4

It is definitely not useless. Try being a lawyer or a doctor without going to college, I don't think that is going to work.

I am sensing your aunt is quite bitter about her job, studied the wrong subjects, or never had the chance to go to college.

People think of going to college as a way to learn things, to acquire knowledge of subjects, like math, science, languages, etc. And, yes you do learn all those if you study. But in fact, the best education you get at college does not come from class subjects, it is from dealing with people you meet there: dealing with authority (non-family related), with deadlines, learning to work in teams and individually, you learn to take responsibility for your own actions, etc.
Really, think about it, high school does not entirely prepare you for the workplace. You do get to practice it a little in high school, but we always blame the dog who ate our homework, or our parents are ready to bill us out. In college, we, the professors, could not care less if you have to take your pet boa to the psychiatrist because he is not eating and you think he is depressed. Try that one on your boss, she is going to have a good laugh like we do. College is an introduction to the "real world." You learn to deal with disappointment, unfairness, you learn to have fun (really, you do, I have several friends who skipped college later to find out they passed out on the whole college experience).

On the other hand, college is not everything. There are things that cannot be learned in college or that sometimes go against what you were taught in college. Also, you should not believe that because someone does not have a college education that the person is useless, or will not know the business. Sometimes people in certain occupations can do without a college degree. Look at many older salespeople, accountants (my grandpa), office personnel, handymen, mechanics (my other grandpa who had his own business and didn't even finished middle school), plumbers (which by the way, I think they could make more money than doctors or lawyers!), seamstresses, tailors, and many others.

I am currently writing my PhD dissertation, and definitely the more I study, the more I realize that I really don't know "anything." The more you become aware of things, of knowledge, the more you realize that there is more out there to be learned.

Tell your aunt you appreciate her concern, but that you do not want to miss out on the college experience and everything college has to offer.

Good luck!

And don't just go to college, study!

Answer 5

No, not at all. Life is so hard and competitive, the more education you have, the better choices you have in life. On the other hand, the really big questions never seem to have any answers, only theory and it's frustrating! How do we know God is real, what proof do we have for evolution if they cannot say for sure bones they excavate are humanoid or ape, is personality predetermined by genetics or circumstance, why why and no clear answers.

Answer 6

I would rather be ruled by the first 100 people in the phone book than the faculty at Harvard.

Choose your college carefully.

Knowledge may be Power,
but a degree in French Poetry won't help you arc weld.

Answer 7

Forget about knowledge and wisdom,
and people will be a hundred times better off.
Throw away charity and righteousness,
and people will return to brotherly love.
Throw away profit and greed,
and there won't be any thieves.

These three are superficial and aren't enough
to keep us at the center of the circle, so we must also:

Embrace simplicity.
Put others first.
Desire little.

Answer 8

Looking at your avatar, I would say: no.
Don't forget, however, that the purpose of education (school) is not to fill your brains with all kinds of stuff, but rather to teach you ... how to LEARN. Plus, give you a basic culture in the discipline you do : would you imagine a civil engineer without maths or without chemistry ?
And yes, the remark about a doctor is very judicious!

Answer 9

Well, for your aunt, knowledge is useless.

For most of the 6 billion people on this planet, knowledge is all that stands between them and the Neanderthal.

Do you need to know about the neanderthal??

Answer 10

That's because you have to learn a lot of different subjects and once you get a job, usually at least a few of those subjects aren't used very much. History doesn't add into a lot of jobs for example.

Answer 11

Gaining Knowledge is a psychological satisfaction.
Whether we use it directly in our work or not depends on situation.
We should be well equiped with knowledge so that we can face some challenges in life which are unexpected.
Never stop learning.