Some people argue that experience is the best teacher. Life experiences can teach more effectively than books or formal school education. How far do you agree with this idea? Support your opinion with reasons and/or your personal experience.

It is true that “Not everything

that is

learned is contained in books.” A

person

can learn a lot and retain what he learns through

experience

. In my opinion life’s valuable lessons are learnt from

experience

and so the

knowledge

gained from

experience

is more important. Books are a great source of information. A

person

in his lifetime cannot

experience

everything, but by reading a book on a particular subject he can gain

knowledge

over that subject in less

time

. There are books available on any subject that one needs.

However

experience

seems more important to me. Suppose a

person

living in the United States wants to learn about India. He has two options: he could visit India and learn about the people and places there or he could just pick up a book about India and read it. The

first

option will be expensive and

time

consuming, but at the same

time

it gives one

first

hand information and a sense of satisfaction while the

second

option is less expensive and saves

time

. A

person

can gain

knowledge

and learn many valuable lessons through his/her own practical experiences and

also

the experiences of others. The

knowledge

learnt from

experience

is very likely to be retained in our memory for a long period of

time

. The conclusions that we draw from what we learn would be from our practical

experience

instead

of accepting the conclusion drawn in the book by the author.