The same idea as this adage is echoed in the ‘vernacular
proverb which says that empty vessels make the most noise. Knowledge is
desirable and should, be .attained at any. Cost, but a little knowledge though
certainly better than no knowledge. Has the dangerous tendency of turning the
head of its owner. It is not mere a case of something being better than
nothing. This is what is implied in the statement that a little knowledge: is a
dangerous thing.
There is certainly a great deal of truth in the
statement. It is quite common to see person with shallow attainments parading
their knowledge and trying to make others believe that they are really learned,
this leads them to treat others with scant respect and look down upon those of
lesser attainments. They want that others should respect and admire them and if
those are not forthcoming. Then get disappointed and sullen. All this finally
makes them unpopular, if not hateful.
This tendency to parade a little knowledge is
noticeable to a greater extent in women and persons of the lower classes. Having been SO long unacquainted with learning and education as such they are
flushed by their first contact with them, and immediately their heads get
swollen. They assume airs and think it beneath their dignity to pursue their
former occupations. They behave very much like the jackdaw, who tried to pass
for a peacock.
Some do not agree with the idea that a little
knowledge is a dangerous thing. They say that it might, on the other hand, act
as a spur to further effort and the attainment of more knowledge. Where this
desire is manifest, the knowledge has been rightly used. But a stud: of human
nature reveals this type of persons are indeed rare.