TOEFL Independent Writing I remember I was a bit sad when I finished high school because I thought I would never learn as much again in my life. Now a few years later, I have realized how wrong I was. You do not only learn from books in school or at university but you also learn from experience. And learning is a life-long process. Knowledge gained from books is usually specific and related to a career skill, whereas knowledge gained from experience tends to be about skills for life. Learning from books and experience is both important, however, I believe that knowledge gained from experience is more important for the following reasons. Firstly, this type of knowledge is more useful for everyday life. Most things you need to survive you learn through experience. This starts as soon as you are born. You learn how to walk, how to talk, how to eat, etc., and this is basic, essential knowledge that a textbook cannot teach. And it continues in your adult life, you learn how to cook, how to take care of yourself, how to make decisions, what you like and what you do not like. A book can teach you some parts of these things but you will only gain thorough life knowledge by experiencing them. Obviously, to get through life, this knowledge is a lot more helpful than textbook knowledge. Knowing a mathematic formula will not help you when you have to make an important decision like moving somewhere, for example. Secondly, you will be able to remember what you have learnt from experience a lot longer and better. The knowledge is connected to a specific experience and memory. For instance, either you did something, you saw something, you felt something, you made a mistake or you experienced success. This creates stronger connections in the brain than just reading something. I cannot remember half of the things I learnt from textbooks in school. And it is a known fact that teachers often try to teach by giving students a practical experience. I remember when we learnt about different plants in Biology, we would look at different methods to identify them in our books but then go outside to identify the plants in the schoolyard. This proves that knowledge gained from books is not sufficient and you need to experience things to learn long-term. In conclusion, knowledge gained from experience is more useful and helpful for everyday life and it usually can be remembered longer and better. Although having knowledge from books is valuable, gaining knowledge from experience is more important.