Some Teachers Just Make You Love Learning

I listen to video lectures on Bilibili (bilibili.com), and before I know it I am completely absorbed. There are several teachers on Bilibili whose teaching style really suits me. One is Zhang Yi of "Yishu Mathematics" (he teaches high school math), another is Wang Pingping, a senior Chinese-language teacher at Beijing No. 5 Middle School (she teaches high school Chinese), and the third is Hou Wei, known online as Hanshui Chousheng (he teaches high school biology). Right now I am following these three teachers' courses; for physics, chemistry and English I have not yet found online teachers whose style fits me, so I mainly study on my own.

Someone like me, who put his high-school textbooks away more than twenty years ago and is now picking up high-school knowledge again, really needs a good teacher to guide him. Listening to these three teachers' free public lectures, I often feel as if a light has suddenly been switched on. They always open up my thinking, help me see my own problems, and I gain a great deal. Their teaching style also suits me: their logic is clear, their words are concise, and they waste no time at all.

For a middle-aged person like me, time is life. If a teacher drags on and rambles, I cannot bear to listen. By contrast, a teacher who can explain a problem clearly and in a few words is very welcome to me. This also gives me food for thought in my own writing. Only articles with a concise style, plain and easy to understand, and a natural, fluent expression will not tire the reader; I should strive to push my own writing in that direction.

I used to think my foundation in Chinese was fairly solid, and that my writing ability was at least not a problem. After listening to Teacher Wang's Chinese-language lectures, I felt a certain unease. This kind of impromptu writing of mine, where I write wherever my thoughts take me, must contain many grammatical problems, and sometimes the wording may be inappropriate as well. So I really do benefit from her lectures. After listening, I not only know how to answer Chinese-language exam questions, but in daily writing I also, consciously or unconsciously, check whether my writing reads smoothly and whether there are any grammatical faults.

Times really have advanced enormously. Back when we were in school, it was hard to come by so many high-quality teaching resources. Now the internet is full of these kinds of excellent open lectures; as long as a person is willing to learn, he need never worry about finding a teacher.

Finally, I want to say: attending lectures and working through problems is genuinely wonderful. Back when I was in school, I also used to feel headache from the heavy schoolwork. Only after entering society and doing all kinds of jobs did I realize that, compared with the various problems of real life, attending class and doing exercises are far simpler. And the pleasure of finally understanding a problem and working out the answer is also a beautiful thing.