I spent a few evenings witnessing the comings and goings of night court and I smell a contridiction.

In a court of law, I hear judge after judge tell each defendant that, "ignorance of the law is no excuse". Citizens are required to know each and every law and stand ready to defend themselves against all charges, all without training.

In every class I have ever taught (high school, college, adult learning), the initial premise begins with the students knowing nothing. The onus of knowledge transfer falls solely upon the instructor. If the student will not learn, fails to learn, or fights against learning, I have to develop individual educational plans, attend professional development seminars, and create a syllabus that addresses the student's needs.

Permit me to recap.

In the court room, a defendant stands alone in front of the law, in front of people who are experts in the law. The defendant pays for their ignorance with fines and jail time should they not possess all prerequisite knowledge.

In the classroom, a student stands in the class in front of people who are experts in their subject. The student pays for their ignorance with review, extra instruction, sympathy, and empathy.

When I encounter an ignorant person, I do not fine or imprison them.

When I encounter an ignorant person, I cure them.

You've heard the old saying 'knowledge is power' before, right? Well there's a lot of truth to that saying.

Knowledge is what's needed to achieve greatness in life. It has been used to build societies, cure diseases, make new discoveries, advance technology, educate crowds, and even question the very meaning of life itself. So many extraordinary possibilities have extended from knowledge.

Unfortunately knowledge is often rejected for ignorance in some cases. Perhaps because being ignorant is too easy where gaining knowledge is hard. You have to apply, work hard, and educate yourself; but it's all worth it in the long run. Sometimes ignorance hides the dark truth and yet knowledge reveals it, leaving many somber about life. That may be the case but it is often better to have knowledge of that truth instead of playing along with the lie.

Remember, knowledge is power. It's your power. You just have to use it.

#knowledge #challenge

At the very age that we start to think at a slightly higher level, we are thrown into a knowledge rat-race. We race to learn the most vocabulary words and quickly solve the mathematical problems. We are unquestionably questioned by tests that supposedly test our knowledge. So, knowledge is no longer just understanding. It turns into brain acrobatics needed for survival. We have wrung the joy out of knowledge and put it into numbers on an examination score - the tragedy! Those numbers serve as the dangling carrot - a reward - for the rat-race.

What remains of knowledge from that whole process is just instinct, which we had to begin with. But knowledge is much more vast than what can be gained from the above process. It is easy to get lost in knowledge - the tragedy! Google or look up one word and it leads to more words that are unknown. The mystery never ends.

The lesson to be learned before diving into knowledge is:

control your knowledge and do not let it control you - the tragedy! Have a healthy mental diet. Control what information you feed your mind. Know when to the end the mystery. Know when to end the rat-race. Know when to stop exploring before the “fuel” is out.