Richard S. Wurman's article The Business of Understanding spoke to me as it must have to everyone. I thought Wurman's ideas were relatable to students and teachers. As a college student, I've been able to reflect on my high school education and I can now admit to being guilty of not asking questions. I flew under the radar and never asked for clarification and denied myself the opportunity to learn and grow.
I agreed with many of Wurman's views, but could also find areas to argue and disagree with. My first disagreement with Wurman is where he wrote about being unpopular at meetings, "because an admission of ignorance wasn't the behavior that was rewarded in our society." This is where I differ in opinion, I cannot fathom a society that would reject questions where education has been the cornerstone of American progression. Maybe it's a generational difference, but I've noticed that my professors ask and encourage questions and or comments.
We live in a knowledge and information based society were asking and acquiring new information is helpful, but expected. This semester I am taking COM 351 Business Communication, and now more than ever an effective communicator is in high demand. "Data and information, although words used interchangeably in our language and our culture, are not the same. Not only does information have more value, it takes more work to create and communicate. For all the talk of this being the Information Age, it would be more accurate to call it, instead, the Age of Data." From this quote from Wurman's article I have deducted that most people would rather have you explain the data instead of interpreting it yourself. Further adding more weight to my claim that communicating effectively trumps out data.
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