Compare and Contrast understanding and knowledge

It is a well known fact that real life experiences stay longer in memory.
Knowledge gained from experience is very important as it gives hands on 
exposure to things. It gives us better understanding of things and it complements the book knowledge. 


Knowledge from books is the most important ingredient of any education system. Yet I believe that hands-on practical experience complements the class room education in every way. We cannot understand the theories or concepts stated in books only by reading them. If we complement them by doing experiments and actually seeing 
the results we can better understand the theories and hence retain
them longer. I was able to understand my chemistry reactions and titrations more when I mixed the various chemicals in the laboratory and saw the events take place.


Even at a college level, practical training is very important to undertand
the various subjects learnt in books. Professional traning in industries gives us the insight as to how the real world works, the obstacles, the work ethics and most importantly, the way to use the knowledge gained in the classes. This will help us relate to the books in a better way and know what is more important to learn. When I was in college, I did not know why I was doing so many courses or taking all those classes in Math, Science and Engineering. But when I did my internship, it gave me an idea where I need to use the various concepts. This helped me understand things and made me appreciate the knowledge from
books. 


The knowledge gained from experience complements the knowledge from books.Both are extremely important for all round development. Both independently are not very useful, but when combined give a powerful way to understand things and use them effectively.