While I was taking a walk around the local park yesterday, I saw a man, probably in his mid-fifties sitting on one of the benches and reading something out loud. He had his earphones plugged in and was intently looking at a book. On close inspection, I figured out that he was learning English. There was some sort of excitement and enthusiasm on his face, as he read word after word, forming sentences. This got me thinking, education really has no age bar.
When we are towards the end of our bachelor’s or master’s degree, we often hear people saying – “This is the last year of studies for you.” “Says who?”, I want to ask them. It is only in our minds that education stops once our college life comes to an end. I remember buying a notebook which says
“Education is not preparation for life, education is life itself.”
How true is that! We assume that if we get a good degree from a good institution, our education is complete. We forget that our life is our best teacher.
Education is not restricted to books. Having a knowledge of things you’re passionate about is education. Being able to present yourself as a well-rounded individual is education. Knowing what’s right and what’s not is education. Having the ability to carry out meaningful conversations is education.
[Image Source: Pinterest]
What better example can I give than that of my father? Despite his age, he constantly updates himself with new technology and the on-goings of the world. There is so much of knowledge within him, it renders me speechless when he speaks so fluently and passionately about finance and economics. Even if I give an arm and a leg to trade places with him, I would never be able to be as well-versed. He strongly believes in learning by application and through experience, which is exactly how children must be taught.
I feel pity for those people who despite having all the resources, do not utilize it to take forward their education. If we stop educating ourselves, our minds becomes numb.
Who says education must be something related to the subjects we studied in school? It can really be anything as simple as learning a new language, or learning a hard/soft skill.
At present, we can learn tons from the videos on YouTube, even by looking up articles on Google. Thanks to technology, learning is not just restricted to reading books. What is needed is a keen and enthusiastic mind, no matter what the source of education you choose.Nothing makes you a better, smarter and sharper human being than education.
Do you agree with me? I would love to know your views on education, please feel free to leave your comments.
Stay blessed!
The Soulful Nib 
Very well written, Chetana. Your point about people not utilising the resources they have is something that I always think about. Almost everybody has a smartphone today and more than half of the people use it for all the wrong things. Like you said Google, YouTube and even Facebook for that matter can be very informative but sadly they’re used for the wrong reasons.
A very great concept you’ve got here
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Thank you Akshatha!
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You have hit the nail on the head!
Keep writing…..
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Thank you!
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Well said Chetana,Learning graph should always be in upward trend….it should not be a straight line or a declining graph…..
Nevertheless we truly learn from so much around us…..its constantly honing our skill set.
Learning is truly an experience in itself.
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Thank you:)
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Very nice article. The education we got in a college and the knowledge we got in our daily life is entirely different. I was a teacher & taught mathematics to the students. But now update my knowledge in gardening by using YouTube which is entirely different from my subject .
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I’m so honoured to see that one of my most favourite teachers has taken the time to go through my blog and even comment on it.
Thank you so much sir. I’m glad you could relate to the blog post. 🙂
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Chethu
Its a good write up. Education is endless and no age limit for this. Just reading things from books and getting 99 percentage is just not education. Learning good things from others, learning to be a good human being, respecting others, is real education. In life we happen to learn new things every day.
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Thank you so much 🙂
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Chetana,
Very well written. Opportunities to learn is everywhere around us, it is just a matter of being in the hunt to learn something worthwhile.
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Very true. People dont use resources like they should. I know few people who learnt new things at old age and are grateful for that. We should educate ourselves about everything we can and that’s the only way we can help others too. After all, everything is easily available on the internet anyway.
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