Is imagination more important than knowledge for human development?

by Nadina González

What is more important: Imagination or knowledge? Although these two things are the most important ones and make us have a bright future, most students might think that only imagination is really necessary to be successful in life. This may be the reason why children are going through lack of interest during their formal education.

Most people might think that knowledge comes from imagination. It is true that people grow interests in things they do not know about, and that those interests may provoke something inside us, a feeling towards those things we do not have enough information about. The problem is that this feeling is not imagination. In fact, it is curiosity what occurs inside us the moment we face something we do not know about. And there is no doubt that curiosity is a powerful motivation for knowledge.

A very good example of the importance of knowledge in developing imagination can be found in children’s literature. ‘Sitting in My Box’ written by Dee Lillegard shows in a very clear way that imagination comes from the knowledge we acquire from books.

Reading a book about wild animals, the little boy of the story submerges himself in a wonderful world full of incredible animals, which he imagines thanks to the visual aids he receives from the book. This is perceived from the very beginning of the story when the child imagines the different animals he watches in the book. His brain only needs to catch some information about the physical appearance of a giraffe to make this fascinating animal appear. Not only does he get knowledge about a giraffe, he also learns about an elephant, a monkey, a lion, a hippo and a flea. Therefore, he is able to imagine them as well.

Another indicator of the importance of knowledge is what happens with the flea, which is seen as the bad character of the story because of the fright it provokes the animals in the box to leave the place. It is very clear that the child has learnt that although fleas are so tiny, they scare animals. Therefore, he makes use of this knowledge to make the animals leave the box. So, due to the evidence the story shows, ‘Sitting in My Box’ is a good example of the fact that previous knowledge is needed to let imagination take place.

There is no doubt that the more powerful imagination, the more interesting chances to make a success of our lives we will have. Since imagination comes from knowledge, it would be great to make students know about this fact. In this way, I think, their lack of interest in studying will be reduced. Although they might know that imagination helps them to succeed in life, they might not know where imagination is derived from. It would be a fantastic idea to persuade students to read more books in order to make their knowledge and imagination increase.