From Lose Friends Radio comes this reading ‘On knowledge’, narrated as an excerpt from ‘How to Lose Friends and Infuriate Your Boss’. You can read the transcript below, or listen to the original ABC recording by clicking on the green play button: [audio:Boss_Jonar_Nader_09_Knowledge.mp3]
ON KNOWLEDGE
The slogan, ‘Knowledge is power’ is misleading. Knowledge is not in itself power. Rather, power comes from the application of knowledge. Many students are under the grand illusion that they can become something, merely by undertaking the appropriate course. We live in a world of instant gratification, whereby we want answer and pleasures immediately. We expect to see results, straight away. We dislike waiting for medication to work, and we expect speedy recoveries. Yes, strangely enough, there are still some things for which we are prepared to wait. Fore example, many people are prepared to go through tiresome routines and long time-frames to attain a goal. Prepared to work hard all year, at a job they do not particularly like, they wait patiently for a holiday, thinking that eleven months of mystery can be alleviated by four weeks away at a resort. It is with the same perverse sense of delayed fulfilment that people are prepared to invest years into tertiary education, hoping that they will eventually find an excellent job. This is the promise that many students want to believe in — just like we all want to believe in the perfect marriage and the blissful loving relationship. Unfortunately, the problem with following such a dream is that by the time we find out that we have been misled, it is often too late to reclaim our energy and our youth. Seeking job-satisfaction by undertaking tertiary education is often a gamble. There are no guarantees. There is no recourse at the end if you find that you do not have an advantage after all.
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