A radio programme collected contributions from listeners on why we learn*1. A wide range of people contributed from pupils to senior citizens. Having witnessed they considered learning as a necessity, I was a little overwhelmed by the fact. Obviously, most of these contributors are so called successors. Therefore, their opinions would not be general ones. Nevertheless, the opinions contained important clues on how we can continue to learn.
The contributions had three types in terms of the reason of learning. The first is for own future such as “learning enriches own life” or “learning is a necessity for life”. The second type is for society’s future, such as “to improve the world a little” or “for people around me”.
These are very noble reasons, which requires a long time and are difficult to examine. Certainly, these are correct though, I could not swallow the ideas as they were.
Meanwhile, the third type is quite easy to understand: own current status such as “enjoyable” or “interesting”.
To avoid misunderstanding, the former two types of future statuses had some expressions which implies the third type. The three types are therefore not necessarily independent; there would be overlapping natures within one contribution.
Based on my experiences of learning, I think the three types sequentially take place. Frist, with some interest, we learn the related matters. As a result, we get more interest in the learning issue and learn the issue more. Through continuing this cycle, we start realizing the benefit to life and society.
What I thought important from the listeners’ contributions was that we do not necessarily start learning for the sake of enriching own life or society. Rather, if we start learning from such righteousness, I think our mindset becomes rigid, we feel a difficulty, and we feel a difficulty in continuing.
I would propose another more accessible approach to continue to learn: Start from not learning, but enjoyment and find oneself learned as a result. While we are about enjoying, we learn. Such an entrance to learning is what I want to create.■
*1 Toko Takeuchi, “Takeuchi Toko no gogo café [Toko Takeuchi’s afternoon café], Nippon Hōsō Kyōkai (NHK) Japan Broadcasting Corporation, 15 June 2021