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Value of knowledge must be taught

Media reports have recently highlighted problems in Taiwanese students' acquisition of knowledge. Last weekend, just after the end of this year's university entrance exams, we saw on TV how students threw their books on the ground and trampled on them.

Maybe their behavior meant that now that the exams are over, they don't have to study anymore.

Or maybe it was a psychological reaction stemming from having no choice but to study despite an intense dislike for it.

Another report said that students in Taiwan are spending less time poring over their books than students in Japan, South Korea and other neighboring countries.

According to yet another report, the written language of today's younger generation has been affected by online chatroom language.

Their written language has become interspersed with numbers, abbreviations and foreign words and is becoming increasingly difficult to understand.

While overseeing graduate students who are writing their theses, I have also seen a trend toward a simplification of the language used.

The first draft of one paper used an abundance of exclamation marks in each paragraph.

There was one in almost every line. I jokingly told the student that his writing almost frightened me. A thesis should convince through its reasoning and analysis, not by scaring the teacher with an excessive use of exclamation marks.

Such examples raise concern that these factors might become a future stumbling block to the absorption and application of knowledge by the average Taiwanese student.

When someone talks about the "knowledge economy," we all have a good understanding of what they mean.

Simply put, it is the use of knowledge to create value. The development of the national economy is increasingly relying on improving knowledge.

Many international studies have pointed out that the average personal income level in a country is connected to the level of knowledge.

The higher the knowledge level, the higher the average income.

The main reason why Taiwan's economy has continued to grow for well over a decade is that the general knowledge level has improved.

In this time, there has been no shortage of well-educated intermediate and high-level employees, which helped bring about industrial transformation and improvements.

This is in fact a reflection of the knowledge economy and a trend that has become clearer over the past few years.

In a knowledge economy, improving knowledge is the only way to improve the economy, on an individual as well as a general level.

Improving knowledge, however, begins with the individual, and it requires long-term training and accumulation.

If the younger generation's acquisition of knowledge and ability to express themselves in writing are becoming constantly weaker, I am afraid that Taiwan will fall further behind in the race to maintain an advantage in the global development toward knowledge economies.

During a recent visit to India, I felt even more clearly the importance of knowledge in the promotion of national economic development.

The income gap in India is very wide. It is, in fact, startling.

Knowledge is the only way to break through the restrictions imposed by poverty.

Many of us are aware that the software industry is the most advanced industry in India, and the country has relied on the development of this industry to improve its place in the international economic system.

The software industry is a prime example of a knowledge-based industry, and India has used mathematics and English language skills to create industrial value.

Only by studying hard to improve his or her knowledge of mathematics and English will an Indian student have a chance to break through the restrictions imposed by family poverty and the caste system.

In other words, only knowledge can give you a better opportunity to develop.

This situation also used to be common in Taiwan, but an improved social economy has meant that knowledge now has a lesser impact on income levels.

What's more, in order to alleviate the pressure that the university entrance exam placed on students and their families, a great number of universities have been added over the past dozen or so years to increase study opportunities.

Despite this, students must be strongly motivated to have a chance to improve their knowledge. The knowledge gap created by insufficient knowledge will weaken society and individuals, and it must not be ignored.

Seeing students on TV stamping on their books, I feel that we must tell them that, despite the pressure of writing exams, they must not trample on knowledge, because that may be the one thing that will give them lifelong employment.

Ko Chen-en is a professor in the Graduate Institute of Accounting at National Taiwan University.

Translated by Perry Svensson
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