Learning from Experience
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　---Ye Xu

There has been much talk recently about whether we should learn from books or we should learn from experience. Some people think that learning from experience is more important while others hold the different opinions. Personally, I side with the former, in the belief that experience is the best teacher.

Admittedly, learning from books, as advocated by many, has its active role to play in our academic life. It can put us in touch with the great minds and arm our heads with massive knowledge.

However, there are numerous merits for learning from experience，too. First things first, experience is the source of knowledge and understanding as well as meaning. Nowhere can the importance of learning from experience be described so vividly and accurately as in the old saying- “Nothing ever becomes real till it is experienced”. Take the human progress as an illustration. Dating back to hundreds of thousands years ago, we human beings were utterly ignorant. But by incessant practices, our ancestors cumulated massive experience, from which they acquired a great amount of knowledge, transforming our world from a primitive society into a highly-developed one. Second, unlike the theories recorded in books, experiences can apply to practical use. When we are at work, what we need is the experience of practical application instead of the abstract theories in our books.

Taking all these into account, we can draw a conclusion that learning from experience is more important than learning from books. Always remember the old saying given by Einstein——“The only source of knowledge is experience. ”