Who Says Discipline is ahead of the Pack with Knowledge?

“Who says discipline is ahead of the pack with knowledge?”

Written by:       Jezreel Madsa

For many, if not all, ‘discipline’ is always given premium over knowledge, inasmuch as the former relates with socially acceptable decorum; the latter, however, drives the tendency hammer, so to speak, to foster arrogance within oneself. Surprisingly, others may even go further to the extent of saying that knowledge is of no use if you are bereft with discipline. Or that knowledge has no significance if it is not accompanied with ideal behavior.

But does such objection above have any merit of its own? Is it even correct to say that knowledge is useless apart from discipline? Well, I beg to disagree, albeit with qualifications.

Before we cut to the chase, let us initially probe the heart of the matter and relatively provide logical arguments to support the claim being made. After all, what truly counts in this matter is argument—argument that has substantial basis—and not merely an emotive appeal to subjective judgment.  

More importantly, the questions that have to be asked from the very outset is that—is it even right to pit discipline against knowledge? Are they even at odds with each other? The assumption seems to be that it is as if the former can stand alone apart from the latter, or vice versa.

 Unfortunately, this kind of formulation has negative ramifications. Say for instance, when students over-accentuate the importance of discipline, the awful tendency is that students may run the risk of downplaying knowledge as if it possesses lesser significance. On the other facet, if one underscores knowledge at the expense of discipline would eventually tend to merely breed arrogance of no avail. There must be room to accommodate both. There should be balance with respect to how we view those two important attributes of humanity.   

While discipline is so important to the life of every student insofar as it largely describes their professionality, it is a gross mistake however to suppose that we would no longer prize knowledge because what we need is mere discipline. Besides, discipline cannot be called discipline apart from knowledge; given that it is our knowledge that informs our discipline, and it is our discipline that reifies our knowledge. Therefore, you cannot have one apart from the other any more than you can have a body without an eye.