There is a famous story about a dad and his daughter. The dad tells his daughter, "When I was little, a lot of people starved because we did not have enough rice." His daughter replied, "Why didn’t they eat bread instead of rice?" 

   What is the problem with this conversation? The dad told his story using words his daughter knows; yet the conversation took a wrong turn. Take a look at another example. A first grader who learned that five plus three equals eight cannot answer, "If you have 3 candies, and your mom gave 5 more candies to you, how many candies do you have?" Is it correct to assume that the first grader does not really know what three plus five is? Then, what does it mean to 'know' something?

   Knowing is to know a fact. A same answer is expected when a factual question is asked. However, is it correct to assume that knowing something is equal to understanding something? The two words 'know' and ‘understand’ are incorrectly used interchangeably more often than not. To understand is to know the meaning of something. Each individual may know a factual event, but everyone has a different understanding of the event based on the individuals' different background knowledge and experience. Judgments based on individuals' understanding of a fact vary for that reason. Understanding is not to know what happened, but why it happened. Understanding is the ability to use a given piece of information, rather than just reacting to it. The biggest difference between 'knowing' and 'understanding' is transferability of a fact. Going back to the previous example, the first grader failed to transfer '3+5=8' to a given situation.

   Midterms are over, and I have no doubt students spent countless hours with their nose buried in a book. As an educator, I was pleased to witness such the sight, but I often worry that they are only remembering the facts. No human being has ever learned everything in the world, but there is a clear distinction between a sage and an ordinary person. The difference does not lie on who knows more. It depends on the level of understanding. A sage understands things more widely and more in depth. A natural question is then how does an individual achieve the level of understanding of a sage? Reading is probably the quickest way to achieve such a goal. However, quantity of books read should not be the indicator of one’s level of thinking. What is more important is reading between the lines. It is important to understand the contents literally, but it is more important to dig deeper to understand what the contents really mean. As stated before, the meaning will differ to each individual based on his/her experience and knowledge. To read between the lines, an individual must be interested in the world and experience many things in life. Pay close attention to the world and a person will find out that there are a lot of opportunities to practice this skill. Aside from reading, debate is also a great way to hone this skill. Having a debate forces people to see and hear different sides of the argument and develop different perspectives. The goal of a discussion should not be to disagree, but rather to recognize and 'understand' different ways of thinking about the topic.

   Today, there is no point in emphasizing the importance of knowledge. However, there should be less emphasis on collecting information on an individual level, but more emphasis on applying or transferring the knowledge given to the society for better use.

#285 Editorial