Idiom: School of hard knocks
Most of us do not want to go to school when we’re young.
Many of us do not want to return to school once we have graduated.
None of us ever want to go to the school of hard knocks.
No matter how challenging formal education is, it is never as painful as learning through hard knocks and mistakes that you make.
That’s why it’s also called learning the hard way.
It’s where people who don’t listen to their teachers and parents or who have forgotten what they learned, learn and relearn the hard way.
The school of hard knocks is where people learn from their mistakes.
Yes, learning from mistakes is one way to learn, but a simpler way is to learn through the experience of others.
Many people will tell you that you should never place a cup of coffee on your documents.
You should always find a clear space on your desk, or better still, don’t drink coffee at your desk at all.
While this may seem wise advice, unfortunately, some people have to learn from the school of hard knocks.
They only realize they shouldn’t drink coffee at their desk when they’ve spilled a cup or two.
Looking on the bright side, we can say that the situation in the picture could have been much worse – the coffee could have been spilled on a computer keyboard or the calculator.
This person learned something at the school of hard knocks. But they also got off easy.
