gre writing issue sample writing 106
- In most professions and academic fields, imagination is more important than knowledge.
Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the statement and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, you should consider ways in which the statement might or might not hold true and explain how these considerations shape your position.
It is frequently assumed that imagination is more valuable asset than simple knowledge for the meaningful contributions in most professions and academic fields. In many ways, it is true that it is imagination that does something critical for which simple knowledge cannot solve. Then, is knowledge merely peripheral and auxiliary? There are lots of situations in which, I believe, true hero is not imagination but our experience and knowledge.
Of course, few would disagree that the ability to think differently and innovatively has been gaining greater recognition in our modern society. In the business world where many competitive firms have already accumulated sound level of technical knowledge and information, what distinguishes a better one from other inferiors is not the level of technology but the distinctive unique vision a company has, a thing called imagination. Steve Jobs and his Apple enjoyed their successes not because they monopolize some information about needed technologies in the IT industry but because they were unique and imaginative in combining those pieces of knowledge and designing their unique products. In short, power to imagine something is a huge asset for an entity to distinguish itself from others who have similar level of knowledge.
Yet, this does not necessarily mean that knowledge should be marginalized when it is compared with imagination. When it comes to materialization of an idea into a meaningful consequence, it is still knowledge, know-how to treat details, and skills and experience that ensure the process. Once again, if it had not been for the level of practical knowledge that Apple boasts about, Jobs’ imagination might have been lowered to inane, futile figments similar to our unrealistic visions and dreams that we draw as a child. In this sense, knowledge is not a peripheral thing but the backbone for an imaginative idea to become a reality.
In addition, ~~~~
The speaker asserts that imagination is more important than knowledge in most professions and academic fields. In some cases, it is true that ability to envision the futuristic things rather than just simple intellectual capacity is helpful for our success in academia and workplace. Only by exaggerating the benefits of imagination, however, the speaker is overlooking the importance of knowledge itself and true relationship between imagination and knowledge.
Admittedly, it is undeniable that imaginative power is one of the important keys in human thinking process. For some people who need to make critical decisions on the matters which cannot be experienced before implementation, the effectiveness of those decisions depends on the planners’ (decision-makers’) prescience. Samsung, one of the world’s leading electronics companies, can now exploit the global expansion of electronic markets because it could imagine this market condition two decades ago. Without far-sighted vision (imagination), it would not enjoy this new market condition. This indicates that imagination is important for successful decision making and management of business.
Nevertheless, despite the importance of imagination, imagination alone cannot make a considerate and informed decision making. Knowledge in any field of human endeavors also has huge meaning for effective and true decision making. Even in Samsung’s case, if it had not had many knowledgeable people who could understand and analyze the given data at the planning stage, imaginative vision would have just been a quixotic daydreaming. In fact, all successes seemingly based on only imaginative planning do depend on strict and rigorous knowledge. Knowledge may actually precede imagination.
Moreover, knowledge and imagination do not necessarily antagonize each other. Rather, they may depend on each other. For most of our learning, true learning comes from the combination between imagination and factual information. To understand the validity of the theory of xxxxx, students need to elicit their imaginative capacity as well as to memorize and analyze the factual information. Lacking one of them, the understanding would be either uninspired or vacuous. This indicates that the real relationship between imagination and knowledge is interdependent.
In conclusion, despite the benefit of imagination to pre-experience the future, both the primary role of knowledge in informed decision makings and the interdependency of them tell us that imagination alone is not more crucial in our thinking. Thus, I cannot fully agree with the speaker’s assertion. Only by ignoring the importance of knowledge and interdependency between imagination and knowledge could one dare to say imagination is more important than knowledge.