TOEFL iBT Independent Writing, Some people stress the importance of learning from books, while others feel that first-hand experience is far more important and valid than knowledge gained from books. Discuss the differences between the two sources of learning and compare the merits of knowledge obtained from experience and that gained from books. Which source do you feel is more important, and why? - rewrite -

Writing Topic

Some people stress the importance of learning from books, while others feel that first-hand experience is far more important and valid than knowledge gained from books. Discuss the differences between the two sources of learning and compare the merits of knowledge obtained from experience and that gained from books. Which source do you feel is more important, and why?

☆ Let’s think

As well as writing about the source you think is more important, you are supposed to deal with the other way, which means that you have to compare and contrast the two choices.

1)    What kind of things do you learn from books?

What kind of things do you learn from first-hand experience?

2)    Which source of learning do you feel is more important in science?

3)    Which source of learning do you feel is more important in learning history?

4)    Which source of learning do you feel is more important in learning a foreign language?

5)    Which source of learning do you feel is more important in learning social skills?

6)    How are the two types of learning different?

7)    What are the good things of knowledge gained from them?

☆ Sharing Ideas

Ask each other questions above and share ideas about the Writing Topic.

☆Deepening Thoughts

To learn and grow, most of us depend on both hands-on experience and information from books, and prioritize either or use both depending on what you want to know and the conditions you are in. In science classes, teachers start with reminding students of some experience or making them experience a phenomenon, and then they proceed to inquiry, assumption, and experiment. But students might not want to experiment with all the elements on the periodic table unless they want to be a chemist. Reading the textbook is enough and efficient to gain general knowledge about them, especially because of the fact that some elements have very nasty properties. In the same way, if you want to know what it is like to be on Mars, you will do some research on Mars on the Internet because you cannot go to the planet and see and feel the actual environment there. You read history books because most of the things in the past do not remain in the present world. On the other hand, if you are interested in skiing, you might give it a try and see what it is like to go down the snow slope with long boards. The feel of the sport cannot be learned without actually doing it. Things like culture, language, or human relationships are also learned mainly through real experiences with them.

学習し成長するために私たちのほとんどは実体験と本からの情報の両方に頼っている。そして知りたいことや置かれている状況によってどちらか一方を優先するか両方を使う。科学の授業で先生は生徒たちに何かの経験を思い出させるかある現象を経験させるところから始める。それから問いかけ、仮説そして実験へと進む。しかし学生は化学者になりたいのでない限り周期表の全ての元素を実験したいとは思わないだろう。それらの元素についての一般的知識を得るためには教科書を読めば十分で効率が良い。特にいくつかの元素は非常に嫌な性質があるから。同様に火星にいるのはどんな風か知りたい場合火星についてインターネットで調査するだろう。なぜなら火星に行って実際の環境を見て感じることはできないからだ。歴史の本を読むのは過去の物事の大半は現在の世界に残っていないからだ。一方でスキーに興味があるならばやってみて長い板で雪の坂を滑り降りるのはどんなものか確認するだろう。実際にしないでこのスポーツの感触を知ることはできない。文化や言語あるいは人間関係のようなものもまた主にそれらを実際に経験することを通して学習される。

Now what about the relative importance of experience and information from books in sympathizing others, which is a most important property as a human, in issues such as globalization? The subject has many aspects and people who read have a lot to talk about it. However, if they have never put their feet into the shoes of the countless numbers of people suffering from its results, it could hardly be said that they really know what globalization is. On the other hand, if you have made friends with someone whose father has lost his job because of free trade treaties, which is the driving force of globalization, you would sincerely feel that something is wrong with this on-going change and might feel the urge to do something. Still, if you do not read, you would not see the whole picture of globalization and would never know what is causing its problems and how it can be dealt with. Furthermore, if people who have seen only the good results of globalization have never read about bad results of it, they might not question the virtue of globalization. In these cases, it seems that reading supplements experience, which is the main source of our decisions.

さて、人間として最も重要な気質である他人に対する同情における、経験と本の情報の相対的な重要性はグローバル化の様な問題ではどうなるろうか。この主題には多くの面があり読書家は一家言ある。しかし、グローバル化の結果に苦しんでいる無数の人々の気持ちになったことが一度もなければグローバリゼーションが本当に分かっているとは言えない。一方で自由貿易（グローバル化の推進力）のために父親が仕事を失った人と友達になったら、この進行中の変化には何か問題があると心から思い何かしたいという欲求を感じるだろう。それでも読書をしなければグローバル化の全体像は見えず問題の原因と扱い方は決して分からないだろう。更にグローバル化の良い面しか見たことがない人がグローバル化の悪い結果について一度も読んだことがなければグローバル化の美徳に疑問を持たないだろう。これらの場合経験を読書が補っているように思える。そして経験は決定の主な源泉である

☆ Hints for points

Differences between Learning from Books and Learning from First-Hand Experience

1.    Learning from books is learning about things someone else has analyzed while learning through experience is directly connected to your heart.

2.    Learning from experience is using your senses such as sight and smell while learning from books is using your imagination: you relate what is written to your past experience.

Merits of Knowledge Gained from Books and Those of Learning from Experience

Knowledge from Books …

1.    It is of wider-range (comprehensive)

2.    It is relatively less slanted (less personal. less partial) and more accurate than knowledge based on personal experiences.

3.    It can be gained in rather short time compared to actually trying everything.

Knowledge from First-Hand Experience

1.    It is convincing to you and stays in your memory easily and forever..

2.    It motivates you to learn more or to take actions from the bottom of your heart.

3.    It is often not written in books and cannot be copied by others.

☆Sample Reasoning of Your Opinion

Sample 1  Books

【Your Opinion】Gaining knowledge by reading is more important than doing it through experience because it is taking advantage of the shared assets of information humans accumulated through thousands of years.

【Reasoning】Humankind has dominated the earth by sharing knowledge, and revolutions related to information-sharing always expanded our ranges of activities. Knowledge from experience is destined to be wrong because an individual can see only part of the whole picture and processes it alone. We read books to make up for this demerit and avoid failure caused by ignorance. For example, people without the experience of war may have wars if not informed of it more easily than those who are informed.

【Counterargument-treatment】Information provided by books can be wrong, but since it has usually been examined by more than one heads, it has more chances to be closer to the truth than information held by one head.

【Conclusion】 Books are more important than experience as they help good understanding.

【意見】読書によって知識を得ることは経験を通して知識を得ることよりも重要だ。なぜなら何千年も通して人類が蓄積した情報という共有財産を利用することだからだ。

【論証】人類は知識の共有によって地球を支配してきた。そして知識の共有に関する革命は私たちの活動範囲をいつも拡大してきた。経験からの知識は全体の一部しか見えずそれをひとりで処理するので間違ってしまう運命にある。私たちが本を読むのはこの欠点を補うためであり無知による失敗を防ぐためである。

【反論処理】本によって提供される知識は間違っている可能性はあるが通常複数の人に検証されているので一人の情報よりも真実に近い可能性が高い。

【結論】 よりよい理解を助けるので本は経験より重要だ。

Sample 2  Personal Experience

【Your Opinion】I think knowledge from experience is more important than that from books because it is a pure sense data and without it you cannot understand, process, and organize other information.

【Reasoning】As saying goes, seeing is believing. Hands-on experience is the data obtained by your own senses and processed by yourself. In terms of reality, no other information can beat your own experience.

【Counterargument-treatment】Knowledge gained from experience lacks balance in terms of forming a more accurate picture, but as long as you keep supplementing it by reading or listening to others, you have less chance of becoming biased and making bad decisions.

【Conclusion】Learning is difficult without motivation, which is kindled by experience. Thus, experience is more important than books for you to approach study actively.

【意見】経験からの知識の方が本からの経験より重要だと思う。なぜなら純粋な感覚の資料だからであり、経験からの知識なしには他の情報を理解し処理し組織することができないからだだ。

【論証】諺にあるように百聞は一見に如かずだ。直接の経験は自分自身の感覚によって得られ処理された資料だ。現実感という点においては他のどんな情報も自分自身の経験にかなわない。

【結論】動機がなければ学習は難しい。そして動機は経験によって焚きつけられる。従って勉強に積極的に望むためには経験の方が本より大切だ。

Sample 3  Both

【Your Opinion】Knowledge based on experience and that from books compensate for each other. Therefore, it cannot be decided which is more important than the other.

【Reasoning】It is difficult to know something without a real contact with it, but it is also difficult to comprehend it well without reading.

【Counterargument-treatment】Some scientists and artists come up with great ideas only with scant experience related to it. However, they are exceptional people with extraordinary imagination that enables them to experience reality through reading, and their imagination has developed with their experiences. No one can form an idea without sense data, which is experience. On the other hand, it is true that there exist people who leave great works without any proper education, but the assumption is that they could have been even more successful had they had more resources in the field of their interest other than their own personal experiences.

【Conclusion】Both books and experiences are vital to build a well-rounded view on something.

【意見】経験に基づく知識と本からの知識はお互いに補完しあう。 従ってどちらが他方より重要かを決めることはできない。

【論証】直接接触せずに何かを知るのは難しい。しかし読書をしないでそれをよく理解することもまた困難だ。

【反論処理】科学者や芸術家の中にはわずかな経験だけで素晴らしい考えを思いつく人もいる。しかし彼らは読書を通して現実を経験することを可能にする目覚ましい想像力がある例外的な人達だ。そして彼らの想像力は経験を使って発達したものだ。感覚的データすなわち経験なしで考えを形成できる人はいない。一方、まともな教育無しで偉大な作品を残す人たちがいるのは確かだ。しかし推測では興味のある分野における自分自身の経験以外にもっと多くの資源があったらもっと成功していただろう。

【結論】何かについて成熟した見解を持つためには本と経験の両方が重要だ。

Your Sample Reasoning of Your Opinion

【Your Opinion】

【Reasoning】

【Counterargument-treatment】

【Conclusion】

☆ Essay for Ideas and Expressions

Barron’s Writing for the TOEFL iBT, p. 248

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