Several years ago, I was surprised with a question from a teacher at a school. The teacher asked me, “How can you explain to a student – Why he or she has to take vitamins” At first, I started to think of a good answer, and it seemed pretty obvious why. I replied,”Vitamins make you stronger and protect your body against many diseases.” The other teacher immediately interrupted me by saying, “You don’t! Just tell them to take it and that’s it.” I went quiet after being faced with a very old tradition on the learning process that is being spread all around the world.

What that teacher had missed is he lost one of the most important aspects of the learning process. When I was in junior high school, I began to struggle in math. It looked impossible to me to know the reason why I had to study derivation and integration. I told myself that it was a waste of time to learn it. Everything was complicated in my mind when suddenly an amazing thing happened. I got a new math teacher! He was very experienced and not as young as my previous teacher. Most importantly, he was passionate. He used models and drawings to help us to visualize the usage of all those “useless” math concepts. His approach cleared my entire mind and gave me a clearer picture of math. For me, that was a valuable lesson in making abstract ideas tangible.

It’s very hard to separate teaching from learning. They are like two faces of a coin, namely “head and tail.” Teachers have their own way of teaching large groups of students. Students come from all over and every age, with one interesting point in common: differences.

We never stop learning. It doesn’t matter if you have to learn for a job or for passing an exam. Some of us learn well by listening; others may learn well by reading. Each and every one of those skills need to fit on all learners as the shoes on their feet. But don’t forget to find the right size of shoes for you.

I can remember the first time my mom saw a computer. It was a strange machine that was too advanced for her to learn how it works. “That’s a machine for young people”, she thought. A few months later, she was busy checking her email, chatting with my sister, and even shopping on line. Amazingly, she told me, “Every time something appeared on the screen, it led her to something else.” It was funny that she couldn’t stop going deeper and deeper into cyberspace. She couldn’t stop learning.

I bet that all of us have a similar story, the story of learning. And we will never forget it, just like learning how to ride a bike. I think that everyone should learn in an exciting and enjoyable way. As obstacles come along, stick to it. Don’t feel frustrated. That’s it.

 

Jesus Vern Hernandez, MBA on Financial Business from UCLA