Acquisition of Knowledge and Skills - Essay Example

Discussion When a child is born, the only thing it brings to the world with him/her are senses; the sense to touch, the sense to speak, the sense to see, the sense to hear, and the sense to taste. Among all these senses, the sense to speak is the least developed or matured in the newborn. The child can see things, hear voices, touch things, and taste things just like adults do. In spite of having the sense of differentiating between different kinds of things, tastes, and voices, the child cannot narrate them to others because he/she is unfamiliar with the language that adults speak. However, the sense to learn that language over the passage of time with mutual functioning of hearing and speaking is inculcated in the child naturally. The child begins the journey of learning by imitating the adults. The child tends to behave like them, and copy their language. Deaf people cannot speak provided that they are deaf by birth despite the fact that they have perfect speaking power in terms of voice and functionality of brain. Still, they cannot speak because they have never heard any voice. They do utter words but they do not make sense and cannot be interconnected to form a sentence. According to John Locke, faculties are inborn but knowledge is acquired, so every human being assumes the noble responsibility of learning and spreading knowledge. Knowledge is acquired by the child as he/she grows up. Knowledge acquired by a child depends upon the circumstances and the environment in which he/she grows up. It is an established fact that knowledge is infinite but an individual’s capacity to acquire knowledge is finite. Too much knowledge creates too many doubts while making many things clear at the same time. The lesser an individual knows, the more he/she is confidant about the knowledge, because that which he/she does not know, does not exist for him/her. The same epistemology has been noted by Locke in these words, “the inhabitants of the Mariana Islands, which, being separate by a large tract of sea from all communion with the habitable parts of the earth, thought themselves the only people of the world…even after that the Spaniards had brought amongst them the notice of variety of nations abounding in sciences, arts and conveniences of life of which they knew nothing, they looked upon themselves, I say, as the happiest and wisest people of the universe.” (Locke, 1828, p. 534). There are some very good examples of human beings who have grown up in a completely untraditional way and in a conventionally unnatural environment, one of which is the case of Genie, a girl found in the United States whose father kept her locked up in her bedroom till the first 13 years of her life. Genie did not see or know the world at all. At the time when she was found, she could generate voice but could neither convey her point to the others nor understand others’ language. Everything in the world was new to her. In 1970, when Genie was found, she was only 13 years old and she died in 1988. During her life, the mute child was extensively examined and studied particularly by the researchers who wanted to learn whether knowledge is inborn or learned. After a lot of care and training, she could hardly communicate with people, though a lot of improvement had occurred in her speech since she was found till she died. In his essay while addressing the people, Locke has emphasized upon the need to do extensive study and research in different areas of life so that people can break free of their preconceived notions, and look at things from others’ perspectives that they have never analyzed things from. This would help create a better and more comprehensive understanding of things in them and they would be able to identify and address the concerns that were not known to them before carrying out the research. Locke acknowledges the fact that the search of knowledge is not easy, as he says, “but he that does so must have much earth and rubbish before he gets the pure metal; sand and pebbles and dross usually lie blended with it, but the gold is nevertheless gold and will enrich the man that employs his pains to seek and separate it” (Locke, 1828, p. 534). Besides, learning is just one part of the story, the actual task of spreading knowledge one gains in one’s community is an even tougher task that is both physically and emotionally demanding. In addition to the fact that people know very little, they are repulsive to the ideas, norms, values, trends and traditions that are not part of their indigenous culture. It takes a lot of articulation and convincing argumentation to convince people to accept something they have not known about previously. In the process of spreading the knowledge, one may face a lot of difficulties, but the light generated from the spread of knowledge ultimately benefits the mankind. In this world, the one of the most fundamental obligations of every human being is to contribute to the development of the society, and spreading knowledge is a potential way to achieve that. Concluding, John Locke believes that knowledge is acquired through experience, study and research, so every human being should acquire knowledge and spread it. There is plentiful evidence to suggest that a child is born with just senses, and he/she acquired knowledge from his/her surroundings. A practical example of this argument is Genie the Wild Child who could not speak any language since she had spent the first 13 years of her life locked up in a room and blocked to the whole world. Knowledge is infinite. People who feel confidant that they know a lot indeed know very little, because only when they learn something are they able to find out that there is so much more to learn. One must take the pains to learn and spread the light of knowledge to one’s community and beyond to make a positive change. References: Locke, John 1828, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, J.F. Dove. Read More