An eight-year-old grandson went up to his Grandmother.
Grandson: Grandma, Grandma, why must I study so hard? (He’s an eight-year-old in primary school.)
Grandma: Well, so that you can go to a good school.
Grandson: Grandma, Grandma, why must I go to a good school?
Grandma: So that you can have good grades.
Grandson: Grandma, Grandma, why must I get good grades?
Grandma: So that you get a good job.
Grandson: Grandma, Grandma, why must I get a good job?
(Grandma is getting a bit flustered now.)
Grandma: So that you can earn good money.
Grandson: Grandma, Grandma, if I can earn good money now, must I still study very hard?
That got Grandma thinking, said Mr Chan. And that should set all of us thinking, he added.
“What is the purpose for us to study, get educated and work hard? Is it just to get good money? Is it just to earn good money? If so, then our end goal for education is perhaps too shallow. Does it mean that sometime in life, when we think that we have made enough money, we will then not need to study, upskill ourselves or to learn new things?
“So, this is something for us to think about,” Mr Chan said.
Minister Chan began his speech with a lesson on gratitude. He invited all the graduands to stand and applaud their family members, teachers and friends for making it possible for them to be where they were that day.
“Without their love and support, you will not be here today, and we must always remember – regardless of how clever or hardworking we might be, without the love and support of our families, teachers, faculties, we won’t be here today,” he said.
In his speech, Mr Chan impressed upon graduands that learning, lifelong learning is a habit. It is a personal disposition in which you have a choice.
Learning is not something we do ‘when we have time’.
If learning is something we do when we have time, we will never learn.
But when learning is a habit of life, when learning becomes a lifelong disposition, when learning is something you find time to do, then regardless of how busy we are, we will always learn.
