Knowledge Without Wisdom

  As university students, we have spent almost two decades in a classroom, gaining knowledge. However, on page 144 the narrator says that knowledge and "to know is worse than not knowing at all...you're responsible for the knowledge that you carry." At first, I was confused by what this could mean so I looked up what the actual definition of 'knowledge' is. The definition reads that it is "facts, information, and skills acquired by a person through experience and education." I realized that there was something missing and that was the judgement to utilize this knowledge to benefit your life and those around you. In other words, knowledge does not necessarily give a person the wisdom to use it effectively.
  The narrator is eluding to this; she is saying the sometimes knowing something and not actually understanding how to use that knowledge effectively can do more harm than good. Maybe this is why the previous narrator mentioned that "school is where we go to forget." By focusing solely on gaining knowledge in school, we do not learn how to best use that knowledge in our every day lives; universities helps others acquire all of this information and skills but does not take the time to show students how to use it once they leave the campus.
   The narrator demonstrates this idea of knowledge but no wisdom through her chapters. For starters, when Fue was posing naked for the American and her brother finds out, he has this knowledge of what is going on and what he should do to stop it. But his knowledge did not prepare him for the fact that charging in was not good judgement. He saw his sister naked, which he did not expect and his previous experience did not prepare him for that situation. Furthermore, when the narrator's grandmother went with her best friend to get a tattoo and her friend was attacked by the female relatives of the tattoo artist, her grandmother did nothing. Her knowledge told her that what was occurring was not right but she did not have the right judgement to act on this information. In both these situations, the knowledge that both of these characters had of unfortunate events did not prepare them for how they should respond.
   In the end, is knowledge without wisdom even worth having? Information and experience without judgement is not worth having.