Motivations for continuing education after retirement, translated…
Of my retired coworkers, some volunteer as tour guides for the cultural centers, some volunteer at the libraries, some entered into a tour group for retired school teachers, some take up nanny certifications, getting ready, to take care of their own grandchildren; since I’d formally retired from the teaching post in middle school, I’d, entered, into the realm of scholars, entered into a public university, to work on a master degree.
not my photo…
I’d often driven my car and listened to English, had my breakfast, while memorizing the vocabularies. In class, there are, pages after pages of notes I’d needed to copy, and afterwards, never-ending homework assignments; free time, lectures after lectures, after lectures. I’d waken up at dawn, rest at dusk, bathed inside the university campus, used the books as a face mask, discussions as moisturizers, I’d felt, younger and younger by the day. The professors I met in my studies are great teachers and worked hard in their areas of research, in the busyness of their lives, they’d still had that scholarliness to them, even to the point of being masters.
My appointing professor knew that I’d gone to take classes in Hsinchu and Taichung, and he’d said that he wouldn’t mind using webcam to give me the lessons, but I’d feared that I may take time away from his rest, I’d not taken his kind offer.
He’d become very understanding of the time it took me to commute, gave me a lot of leeway, there were only no more than twenty-minutes’ worth of off-period during the school days, but he was willing, to spend two hours, to help me understand the material. I’d not known where to take my research, so I kept changing my thesis topic, he’d not said anything, was more than patient in his guidance, helped me break through my thinking processes. As I’d taught in school before, my coworkers were in awe at how I was able to, ignite that love of learning in each and every one of my students, to help them find their own areas of expertise; and my professor is more outstanding, worked hard, to polish me up.
sitting in lecture…
Although in the process of my research, it was, filled with challenges, it’d added, many challenges to my retired living too. The Canadian writer, Robin Sharma said, “The reason why you don’t want to do something is not because it’s hard; it’s because you don’t want to do it, that, is what makes it difficult.” This is, the motto of Honami Yoshida, who went to Harvard, with five children, it’d inspired me when I wake up, full of dreams and hopes.
So, this, is for personal enrichment, there’s no pressures to go to school like you’d had to in your younger years, and this learning process was, initiated by you, which is why you’d, worked especially hard in it, because it’s something that YOU want to do, not something you were forced to, and have NO other choices in, like in your younger schooling careers.
Life, the Obstacle Course 