Response to the column "Does more information mean we know less?"

  As the society was industrialized, people became able to get an access to numerous books and encyclopedias. Thus, the modern age became the age of information and knowledge. However, the writer of the column “Does more information mean we know less?” asserts that incessant amount of knowledge actually is not something important. It seems that his logic makes sense to most of us. However, his column has two drawbacks: first, the column does not say anything about what people actually should do, and second, it is very difficult to connect the titles of separated passages with the passages’ content.

First of all, the column “Does more information mean we know less?” does not urge people to do something and change themselves. What it keeps saying is that people nowadays acquire great amount of knowledge and information, but people are forgetting the important values that the religions promote. Yes, it is true that people easily forget about those virtues, since they always pay attention to new information. However, then what should the people do? The column talks about the problem that people have, but it does not provide any kind of solution for it. Thus, this column is not very effective and powerful in conveying its central message to the readers.

Moreover, the titles of the separate parts of the column cannot be easily linked to the content of those parts. For instance, the title of the third part of this column is “Fasting.” However, the content of the part does not discuss anything about fasting. In this kind of situation, readers have to make a guess about what the title really means. Then, some readers may misinterpret the meanings of these titles. Thus, it could be considered that this column has a problem in accurately transferring its message toward the readers. It is certain that the writer must have explained how the titles are related with the content of the passages.

To sum up, very column has its own message. However, there are effective ones and ineffective ones among those columns. For this column, I think it is an ineffective one, since it does not request any kind of change in people’s behavior, and moreover, it does not give any kind of concrete explanation of the titles of the sections of the column. If these two weak points were strengthened, I guess this column could be a very effective one with a strong message.

Essay on the topic for the freewriting task

Topic: It has been said that not all learning takes place in the classroom. Compare and contrast knowledge gained from personal experience with knowledge gained from classroom instruction.

  Human being can learn. It can acquire knowledge through some meaningful processes. However, not all knowledge is acquired through same procedure. Thus, there are mainly two types of knowledge, depending on where and how it is acquired. One is knowledge that a person got from his own experience alone, and the other is knowledge that a person obtained through lectures given from an instructor. The two types of knowledge are quite different from each other, but they also have some common points. Thus, in this essay, I would like to discuss one of the common points and one of the differences that the two types of knowledge have.

  First, the two types of knowledge are similar in a way that they both can improve a person’s ability to think more seriously. When a person acquires knowledge through his own experience, it could be concluded that he got the knowledge by thinking hard alone. This surely means that he now can think about the subject of the knowledge deeper and more seriously, so that he got the knowledge successfully without any help from other people. Also, if a person gained knowledge by listening to a lecture in class, this also means that he now understood new information about a subject. This can also be concluded that the person now has a new knowledge upon which he can build on some new thoughts and thus, expand the scope of his thoughts.

  However, the two types of knowledge are also different from each other in a way that the source of knowledge is different. For the knowledge that a person gained through his personal experience, it is gained through the logical thinking process in that person’s mind. This means that the person now truly understands the new concept, since he got it by himself. However, for the knowledge acquired through instructions in class, a person can have a hard time understanding the knowledge because it is now his own idea – it is someone else’s idea that he is learning. The person needs to put more effort to sufficiently understand the idea and to think as if it were his own idea.

 To sum up, there are mainly two types of knowledge: knowledge gained through personal experience and knowledge gained in class. It is quite difficult to say which one is the better, but we can definitely say that they have some characteristics in common and some differences.

Ode On A Blanket

You, bright flag of warmth,

You, protector of comfort and rest,

Hoping to give mankind a comfortable rest,

Knowing what to do during the night!

When coldness of winter comes to you,

You shatter the frost with your coziness,

Maintaining peace in the homely place!

Sometimes, you cover the sun,

Other times, you protect the sleepiness,

With your beautiful, thick, soft skin!

Oh, you alarm clock of the morning,

Invites me gentlyly to the morning sunshine,

Wakes me up gently in the dawn,

Inspires me to prepare myself for the new day!

Oh, you the comfort of the night,

Wraps me up in the night,

Like a cocoon of an insect,

Letting me rest in peace during the long, boring night!