Assignment: Can knowledge be a burden rather than a benefit? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experiences, or observations
Essay:
Knowledge can never be seen as a burden, but only as a benefit. Having any knowledge at all, or having more knowledge has never had a detrimental effect but can only help; it doesn't pose itself as a burden. One example of why knowledge is a benefit and not a burden is seen through my lab mentor, a post doc at Columbia University. The amount of time and energy she puts in her work reaps her benefit only. Another example that supports this claim is that my grandfather was the only one who got a master degree in Commerce in the family and this proved to be very beneficial for him and his family, in the long run.
One example of how knowledge is not a burden but rather a benefit is that my lab mentor spent most of her post high school years simply studying biology. She went to college, then completed her masters, and then went on to complete her PhD. She spent endless hours at her lab at Columbia University. As is commonly known, lab experiments don't always yield, fast and easy results, experiments take months, and not always do they produce the results being looked for. She has a complete knowledge in the field of biology and this can only be seen as a benefit. One day, maybe three months from now, or three years from now, all that time and energy she spent studying towards her degrees will reap its benefits when she gets the results she needs from the experiments. All the knowledge she has acquired does not pose itself as an unnecessary burden on her, but rather as something that will prove its existence in the future, benefiting her greatly, for making a breakthrough in the field of science.
Another example that illustrates the idea that knowledge is not a burden, but a benefit is that my grandfather was the only one in the family to get a Master degree in Commerce. Through this, he was able to get a job on Wall Street, through which he was able to lead a very successful life, with a stable family. The time and energy that he spent on studying and the amount of knowledge that he gained, worked to help him, not burden him, because he powered it in the correct direction. The knowledge benefited him because he was then able to have a steady income and have a stable home, with a well-off family.
Knowledge can never be seen as a burden because it is the one thing that man can control the input and output of. We can gain knowledge, and filter what we want out of it, and use it to help, but knowledge cannot seem to act as a burden. Humans have gained immense amount of knowledge in all different areas of study be it science or industry. We are able to control the amount of knowledge we have, allowing for it to benefit us, and not burden.
2 answers
The things I want to comment on, such as power of your conclusion, I cant, because I am not certain in this type of essay prompt you can do much more than cite your opinion as a conclusion.
I stay with 5.
As a sidenote, sometimes in war, commanders intentionally send men to their death. I assure you that knowledge is quite a burden to bear, one that never is lifted.
1 answer