What is firsthand knowledge? It is knowledge which the witness actually saw or heard, as distinguished from something he learned from some other person or source. In other words, firsthand knowledge can be deemed as knowledge from practical experiences. In this article, we will delve ourselves into finding out crucial points underlying firsthand knowledge.
In order to fully understand the concept of firsthand knowledge, we need to think about the term “experiences.” There is an old saying in Korea which refers to the phrase that one experience is much better than listening to someone’s words thousands of times. Indeed, we can feel and sense lots of things throughout acting. There might be times when we regret, but even having such feelings may help us to grow up further in the future. We read and listen to lectures all the time at school. Especially in Korea, students spend a great deal of time on studying, perhaps for more than 10 hours a day. Naturally, students do not have enough time to participate in activities with their peers: worse, students do not have time to find out their aptitudes or what they are good at. Truly, such factors are likely to instigate an atmosphere where students may not obtain chances to fully experience. Textbook based studies have become common in Korea.
To further elaborate the current paradigm prevailing in Korea, lots of graduates from colleges are confused because, as illustrated beforehand, they are not well aware of what they want to do for their careers. Just following the current norm, students tend to pursue popular careers reflected by society. For that reason, the competition to get into certain corporations is getting intense, or students tend to take exams to become governmental employees although they are certainly not satisfied with doing it. All these intricate phenomena can actually be explained with one simple concert: a lack of firsthand knowledge.
Then, what is indeed important about acquiring firsthand knowledge? Furthermore, how can we, at a young age, endeavor to attain such knowledge? First, seizing practical knowledge will bestow you to possess a strong mentality in addition to having sociability. Through interacting with numerous people, you will build up your social or network skills, and by feeling failure in the midst of interaction, you will grow internally. Sure enough, having firsthand knowledge not only makes your life quality better but enables you to become a more competitive applicant. It is an undeniable fact that large enterprises are looking forward to hiring candidates who do maintain strong practical skills. These candidates are likely to be chosen the first because companies believe that these people will show up their practicality in workplaces. Second, in order to get practical knowledge, you surely need to move your eyes out of the textbook. Solidifying academic knowledge, you can push yourself further to challenge yourself. You may participate in competitions held by the school or communities, or you may take some days off to go for travel. Even better, you may challenge yourself to be an intern beforehand working for some companies as a full employee. Not limited to this, by joining a exchange student program or seminars, you can gain more fruitful knowledge which you may not earn from textbooks.
So far throughout the essay, we have looked at the importance of firsthand knowledge. The ultimate purpose to acquire firsthand knowledge is in its mechanism that will make you become an active person. Its mechanism is actually aligned with the concept of entrepreneurship, which means that you lead your life by becoming a protagonist. By leading your life, you will definitely accomplish further.