When I was in the sixth grade, my teacher was giving us a lesson on how coal is formed from dead plants and animals. Now it happened that my grandfather had a coal pile from wehich he lugged chunks to the fireplace in his house. I had seen patterns of ferns and such when busting the bigger chunks into ones small enough for him to carry in his bucket, so I carried a nice fern pattern to school and raised my hand when science class began. My question to the teacher was, “If the decayed plants and animals madke the coal, why is there a nicely preserved fern in this lump of coal?” I got in trouble for asking because the teacher (happened to be a cousin on my grandfather’s side) had no idea how to answer that one. I of course, being the smarty pants I was, had already decided that the coal had been oil before it solidified into coal, so when it was oil the plant fell intot eh ‘tar’ and got preserved until the tar went solid. At 67 this summer, I’m still convinced that’s the answer.
That’s why ‘experiential’ knowledge is better than ‘conferred’ knowledge.