Are some types of knowledge more useful than others?

Word count: 916

All kinds of knowledge are useful in their own way. But depending on the situation,

one knowledge may be more or less useful than the other. Also, depending on

different group of people and regarding their own perspective, certain type of

knowledge may be more than any other type.

Object 1 - Coronavirus

http://3m.umn.edu/news/leading-way-towards-covid-19-cure

2020 has been a chaotic year and is still, due to a very deadly virus called coronavirus.

Coronavirus has changed the whole world’s culture and lifestyle. The fatality and the

corona’s strike on the whole world’s economy have let the whole world to set up a

common goal. Which is to develop a vaccine to cure corona. The current situation to

develop vaccine could possibly answer the topic prompt. The usefulness and

importance of knowledge depend on what situation the person or the world is on and

what the problem is. To overcome a problem, which is Coronavirus in this case, the

world is developing to create a corona vaccine. In the process of developing a vaccine,

knowledge based on biology, chemistry and medical science is comparatively more

important and useful than knowledge based on physics or economy. There may be
some contributions of other kinds of knowledge. For example, the pharmaceutical

company would have to use knowledge from economy to increase the profitability, but

the knowledge on medical science, biology, and chemistry is the mainly used

knowledges because these are the knowledge to actually develop vaccine. The

current situation of fatality of coronavirus and the goal to develop vaccine and solve

the problem has made specific knowledges to be more significant. However, in other

situations and problems, the knowledge that is considered less important may be the

most important knowledge. For example, the knowledge on economy is considered

useless compared to knowledge on medical science, but in the situation like great

depression, the economy can be considered the most important knowledge.

Object 2 – Math Book

https://www.eastonpress.com/all-categories/reference/the-math-book-3631.html

Usefulness or importance of knowledge may be dependent on the cultural

background one’s coming from. As far as stereotypes are concerned, it seems quite

accurate for an Asian child obsessed with scheming to read in the corner. Especially,

a stereotype that Asians are good at math. It can be a stereotype, but it can be
considered as a fact that Asians are good at math. “Ranking by subject makes it more

apparent. Universities in China, Hsong Kong, Japan and Singapore ranked top 10 or

top in the 2016 version of the QS World University Ranking Report” (Nurfilzah

Rohaidi). This is due to a difference in perception toward the math. Math is considered

the most important subject in Eastern culture. Parents let child go to math academy

starting in elementary school. In eastern cultures, there is perception that you have to

lay a good foundation to be good at math. However, in West, math is not considered

as a number 1 priority among subjects. In Korea, there are tons of math contest and

even liberal art students (students who major in psychology, literature, etc) have to

study until at least calculus. While in Europe, math is not compulsory and liberal art

student only have to study until algebra. The importance of math has risen from a rice

farming tradition in Asia. Rice farming is technology oriented. To make a bumper year,

the farmers have to be “diligent in pulling weed, modifying it, spending little time

monitoring water levels, keeping mud plates absolutely horizontal, making good use

of all square inches of rice paddies” (Javier Escribano). Ultimately, math is considered

more important and useful for the people in Asia compared to Western people which

can be concluded that the usefulness of knowledge may depend on the cultural

background.

Object 3 – Police officer

https://www.123rf.com/photo_82586139_portrait-of-tough-and-serious-caucasian-

police-officer-wearing-reflective-sunglasses-and-crossing-ar.html

The usefulness of knowledge may also be dependent on what kind of job people

have. Police officers are more likely to use knowledge on reading skill, retaining, and

applying written factual information. To sum it up, the police officers are more likely to

use psychological knowledge and language and literature knowledge than the physics

or chemistry which knowledge from natural science. Just like this, considering the kind

of work the police officers are required and do, some type of knowledge is examined

to be more useful and actually used more in the middle of their workings. However,

this doesn’t mean that some type of knowledge is less valued. Different type of jobs

will require different type of knowledge to be most useful. For example, the knowledge

on natural science which were appraised less useful for police officers may be the

most useful type of knowledge for people who work in different kinds of occupations.

For example, engineers are most likely to use knowledge from physics and math which

were less useful for police officers and in their point of perspective, knowledge on

natural science will be the most useful type of knowledges. Nevertheless, in engineers’

perspective, the type of knowledge which were examined to be the most essential for

police officers such as psychological skills will be less useful since they are not the
 type of knowledge that are essential in their job.

Are some type of knowledge more useful than others? It depends on the situation

faced, the type of problem to be solved, cultural background, and job. However, no

knowledge is less valued. The importance or usefulness may differ considering the

conditions above, but there are innumerable jobs, exceptional amount of diffrent

situations and cultures. Every knowledge is sought to be useful in some areas.

Works Cited
“Coronavirus.” ISGlobal, 2 Dec. 2020, www.isglobal.org/en_GB/coronavirus.

Escribano, Javier. “6 Reasons Asians Are Better at Math.” Medium, Medium, 31 Dec.

2016, medium.com/@fesja/6-reasons-asians-are-better-at-math-ab88fcb3db0.