duality: @ op, You seem to be intelligent but the the following never occurred to you

- "Applied Knowledge" and
- " Transferable skills"

Research about these two and reread what you wrote.

Saint Chukz: @ Op...i think in one full swoop you have succeeded in contrasting your own opinion in the initial post. In the opening line you opined that -no knowledge is wasted appears to you as axiomatic and as arguably sacrosanct, and in your last line statement you then went on to say that it would be stellar to have a "smattering" of many things. Now, with emphasis on the word "smattering", i'm trying hard to figure out how you would have done that if no single amount of time was put into it to gather the little knowledge you termed "smattering". Mind you the knowledge of a thing doesn't have to be acquired in full for you to term it actual knowledge. You also opined that having a particular knowledge of a thing that has no modicum or bearing on what the future tends to hold for you is sheer waste of time because you may never get to use it. I would say you were wrong there in that assertion because, how would you actually get to know what lies ahead of you when you haven't even gotten there? Or do you have a foreseer gift of telling what the future will bring? In my own candid opinion, i would rather opine that no knowledge is actually wasted until it is left unused. It has to be so because you never can tell when that little "survival skill" you garnered at one time or the other would become very handy to you at a critical point in your life, so i would rather not dismiss any knowledge no matter how irrelevant it may seem at a particular time on the premise that it is never going to be useful to me, when i know we all live in a constantly dynamic world. Finally, i think it is best to make myself feel "important" at any particular stage in life rather than feel "impotent" at a near unforeseeable stage in the future.

Saint Chukz: @ Op...i think in one full swoop you have succeeded in contrasting your own opinion in the initial post. In the opening line you opined that -no knowledge is wasted appears to you as axiomatic and as arguably sacrosanct, and in your last line statement you then went on to say that it would be stellar to have a "smattering" of many things.

Serendipity:
Nice to have you around Saintz.
That something 'appears' to be something doesnt mean that it is so. So there is no contradiction when I said that is appears axiomatic and sacrosanct. Ok?
Coming back...

Saint Chukz: Now, with emphasis on the word "smattering", i'm trying hard to figure out how you would have done that if no single amount of time was put into it to gather the little knowledge you termed "smattering". Mind you the knowledge of a thing doesn't have to be acquired in full for you to term it actual knowledge. You also opined that having a particular knowledge of a thing that has no modicum or bearing on what the future tends to hold for you is sheer waste of time because you may never get to use it. I would say you were wrong there in that assertion because, how would you actually get to know what lies ahead of you when you haven't even gotten there? Or do you have a foreseer gift of telling what the future will bring? In my own candid opinion, i would rather opine that no knowledge is actually wasted until it is left unused. It has to be so because you never can tell when that little "survival skill" you garnered at one time or the other would become very handy to you at a critical point in your life, so i would rather not dismiss any knowledge no matter how irrelevant it may seem at a particular time on the premise that it is never going to be useful to me, when i know we all live in a constantly dynamic world. Finally, i think it is best to make myself feel "important" at any particular stage in life rather than feel "impotent" at a near unforeseeable stage in the future.

Saint Chukz: Ok...Waiting to see what you want to unveil this time.

Serendipity:
Please elucidate more on what you mean because I can't see a nexus

Serendipity:
It becomes foolhardiness and unbecoming when we are unreasonably obstinate to the extent that we fail to admit the truth.
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I stated unequivocally, that one had better acquire knowledge that there is high possibility of one using. In everything there is an opportunity cost, the opportunity cost of acquiring the knowledge of Spanish is that knowledge of Hausa language I would have acquired which will now be forfeited.
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Now, there is a possibility that I will get to use the knowledge of Spanish, but the possibility is lesser than that of Hausa given that If would go abroad, definitely, it wouldnt be to a Spanish country. Or what's the possibility of my serving as an interpreter?
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THE OPERATIVE WORDS HERE ARE: the possibility of using the knowledge.

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At certain point those days, I wanted to buy a Piano and then get a trainer, but on mature reflection, it became clear, that the possibility of my using that is infinitesimal and that it would be more politic to choose something that will have bearing on my life. And I did.
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It is better to use my time judiciously in acqisition of knowledge that use it in nugatory things.
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Now how do you reconcile the example of Pitman Shorthand that I cited with your rejoinder?

adedayor08: using the lawyer's case as a typical example;
as a lawyer, you need evidence to win cases in the court. Imagine in a murder case where bromate is found on the corpe that could be the missing piece of puzzle to uncover the whole truth. Fink carefully bro

adedayor08: using the lawyer's case as a typical example;
as a lawyer, you need evidence to win cases in the court. Imagine in a murder case where bromate is found on the corpe that could be the missing piece of puzzle to uncover the whole truth. Fink carefully bro

Saint Chukz: ^ Please provide your answers to this MAN'S query.

Saint Chukz: Do you know it is sheer arrogance to want to force your own beliefs and opinion on others? Please define truth for me? What is truth to you may not necessary be the universal truth to others. Stop for a minute and try to view the world through the eyes of others with recourse to your own views. On the pitman shorthand example you cited, what if you are appointed tomorrow to a position in government circles that would require the use of such a skill or is that not a possibility as well? Again citing the example of the relevance of the spanish language vis-a-vis the Hausa language doesn't even hold a bearing on this discussion for the following reasons ; (1) The Spanish language was propagated by Missionaries, Merchants and Slave masters from the Spanish kingdom to several other nations where they traded centuries ago hence the wide coverage of the language, was the hausa language propagated in a such manner? (2.) if you are an indigent hausa born, would you require going through extra-mural lessons to learn it? It is with the coming of globalization that we are now beginning to see the need to learn foreign languages, i once watched a feature on tv where a european man living in Northern Nigeria could speak not only hausa language but also the native indigent language of the people he was living amongst. So it should be same for you, if you will be going abroad, you can always learn the language when you get there, but then when you get back home and you no longer have a need of that language you learnt, would you call it a waste of knowledge? When it wasn't during the period you needed it, so why should it become a waste now that you don't need it? In countries like America and Canada that are predominantly english speaking, do you know that the knowledge of the spanish language would still be an invaluable asset to you, because as far as i know there are still a sizable number of spanish speaking communities in those countries. If truth is to come from only one source, what then is the credibility of such truth when it hasn't been tested by others?

Serendipity: Gaining knowledge

Dereformer: @ all above me;

Too much grammar!

Serendipity: www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/learnit/learnitv201.shtml

Aggrippa:
yeah serendipity is correct. in learning the concept of opportunity cost is unconsciously applied. this is why an individual should carefully choose what to learn and master them effectively. one cannot afford to attempt knowing lot of things at once. for example the lawyer or the programmer cannot learn all the aspects of law and programs respectively.

AjanleKoko: ..............The good thing is, these days of pervasive information has made it feasible to learn on demand. So I could quickly pick up rudimentary Spanish or learn how to bake a cake on Coursera when I need to.

No point filling one's head with useless information, when you can spend that time further honing your skills in the specific area of interest. If you're a baker, spend most of your time baking, or doing stuff that will enhance your baking skills. Additional time spent learning the ballet will serve you little.

since_1914: O.P., I agree with you 200 per cent! I think this is a general problem around the world today. People hear a dictum or maxim and then the next thing is to start using it carelessly. In my opinion, the question we should have asked is... What is the context in which the words (no knowledge is wasted) were first spoken?

This is because there are several notorious maxims like the one above, being daily bandied around without having any correlation to the context in which they were first used. It is also important to note that just because these maxims are been used every day and almost by everyone for decades doesn't in any way make them logical.

If you were in the Architecture and Design industry you probably would have also heard notorious maxims like "Form Follows Function". This has even used by Design professors around the world for well over Ninety years now. In the course of my research, I found so many holes in that maxim. First the phrase was misquoted and secondly the context in which it was used then, is difficult to align with how it is been used today. In fact as part of a larger body of work, I have only recently written a 5000 word polemics on the irrelevance of this same maxim- Form follow Function.

So in essence, with regards to the maxim- No knowledge is wasted, we must look for the context in which it was first spoken before ascribing any meaning to it. But on its face-value, it think it is absolute nonsense. For instance, in the early days of the craze for Oracle, CCNA and other computer Certifications, I had associates who graduated as Civil Engineers and while they were waiting to go for service and even while job-hunting, enrolled for and took a handful of these certifications. I was disgusted then because I knew, they will never be able to use them; and till this day they have never used those certifications and will never use them because they are full time Civil Engineers. Imagine if they had used half of the resources and time they had then to enroll for classes on Building Information Modelling programs like Revit Architecture, Bentley etc, won't they be standing well above their peers in the industry today?

That said, I still think it is good for people to casually study about different subjects just for the sake of general knowledge, without expecting any gratification on account of this. The mere knowledge they have acquired in the process should be enough gratification.

The problem we usually have is when people aggressively veer off their professional mark to go speculate in another parallel professional terrains acquiring knowledge they don't need.

AjanleKoko: There is some sense in the OP's postulations, if you examine the premises carefully.

Even in the narrow school system, a lot of knowledge is wasted or lost. The good thing is, these days of pervasive information has made it feasible to learn on demand. So I could quickly pick up rudimentary Spanish or learn how to bake a cake on Coursera when I need to.

No point filling one's head with useless information, when you can spend that time further honing your skills in the specific area of interest. If you're a baker, spend most of your time baking, or doing stuff that will enhance your baking skills. Additional time spent learning the ballet will serve you little.

esere826:

LEAN MANAGEMENT and JUST-IN-TIME approach to learning uhn??