We Have Entered an Era Where Lifelong Learning Is Essential for Survival

Because my son loves mathematics and has chosen it as his lifelong career, I conducted a thorough investigation into university education in Paris a few years ago. I focused on Paris because it is the world capital of mathematics, home to many world-renowned mathematical institutions, with the École Normale Supérieure de Paris at the forefront.

To my surprise, I found that universities in Paris are full of white-haired university students. They didn't get gray hair from studying too hard at a young age; they are genuine middle-aged and elderly people. They study a wide variety of majors, and quite a few of them are studying mathematics. Young students and their middle-aged and elderly classmates attend the same lectures in the same classrooms, and everyone takes it for granted, completely unbothered.

Parisian universities are merely a microcosm of higher education institutions in Europe and the United States. Over twenty years ago, when I was engaged in international trade, I met an Australian business partner. He wholesales various Chinese goods from me to sell locally in Australia. He told me that, in addition to completing his university degree, he has undergone eight vocational training programs. Some of these programs took a year or two, while others lasted only a month or two.

Nowadays, there are also some middle-aged and elderly people in our country returning to university. These older students who return to campus have become a topic of casual conversation over tea and meals. This simply indicates that we have not yet joined the ranks of developed nations. Once our country becomes a developed nation, middle-aged and elderly university students will be a common sight on our campuses, and no one will be interested in paying attention to them anymore.

Furthermore, most of the middle-aged and elderly people returning to school in our country currently study highly practical majors. They haven't yet reached the point where, like the French, they can pursue majors that seem to have little practical value and are driven purely by personal interest.

I venture to suggest that it won't be long before many middle-aged and elderly people in our country go to school to study seemingly trivial majors, and I will probably be one of them. When I get old, I might go study mathematics at Capital Normal University, which is near my home. Mathematics was my greatest passion in my youth, and studying math in old age helps prevent dementia. My son loves mathematics; you could say he has undoubtedly inherited the family genes.

After my son graduated from high school, we once considered sending him abroad for university. After struggling with the decision for a while, he chose to study domestically, though he occasionally goes abroad as an exchange student for a period of time. Children from Beijing have an advantage in this regard; most of them have had overseas exchange experiences starting from middle school, and my son is one of them.

He went to the United States for an exchange program in his second year of middle school, and later studied at the National University of Singapore. So, he has lost any romanticized illusions about studying abroad. He is a homebody; he wouldn't even consider studying in other cities within China, let alone live abroad for a long time far from his parents.

A pair of white-haired elderly people often appear in my son's class, quietly attending lectures. Therefore, he won't find my university life particularly novel. According to my son, whenever this couple attends his classes, his teachers don't dare to be the slightest bit careless. My son guesses that the elderly couple are retired professors. When they sit there to listen to the lecture, the teachers at the podium feel the pressure. Interestingly, one of my teachers told me during a chat that she also feels pressured when I sit in her classroom listening to the lecture.

Friends often praise my current behavior, but I always tell them it's perfectly normal. Eventually, as our society develops, everyone will take it for granted.

People like us with international trade experience have the broadest international perspective. Moreover, we generally have access to extensive information, pay close attention to global politics and technological advancements, possess a keen business sense, and have flexible minds that don't view things rigidly. Looking globally, as society develops, it is an inevitable trend for more people to choose to continue learning new majors and acquiring new knowledge in their middle and later years.

The more developed a society is, the faster its pace of progress, and consequently, the faster knowledge and technology become obsolete. If society members want to adapt to this development, they must cultivate an awareness of lifelong learning and maintain the habit of it. Otherwise, they will fall behind the times and find life quite strenuous.

Moreover, as our average lifespan extends, life itself will face many unprecedented new challenges. For instance, we will encounter an increasing number of age-related diseases and will have to live with illnesses for longer periods. These changes require us to learn a great deal of new knowledge to cope.

Our approach and strategies for raising our children may also need significant improvement. I don't care much about what academic degree my son will eventually obtain. Although he really wants to pursue a Ph.D., I don't think it holds much significance. I will support him in striving for his own ideas, but I will also leave room for him to change his life's direction in the future.

If necessary, I will personally train him in business so that he can do what he loves under the premise of financial freedom. I believe that with my hard-earned experience in the business world, as well as the new skills and knowledge I have continuously acquired over the years, I can still guide my child into the business world. The reason I attach such importance to business training for my child is that I have deeply realized the importance of not being financially dependent on others throughout my life. Financial freedom is the foundation of spiritual freedom.

When I am at school, I don't pay much attention to trending news on social media. But yesterday evening, a friend suddenly sent me a video about Zhu Yuejun, a veteran Ph.D. from the School of Medicine at Shanghai Jiao Tong University. After watching it, I felt both surprised and unsurprised. Dr. Zhu had a brilliant early academic record, but his fate was full of misfortune. He worked as a rural doctor for decades, and in his old age, he lived in poverty, relying on government subsistence allowances.

His story made me ponder for a long time and gave me some new insights into his supervisor and his fellow doctoral students. These people are the role models promoted in our medical textbooks, but they also have an unknown side. I am unwilling to discuss this matter too much right now because many undisclosed details remain, and it is premature to draw any conclusions.

There are many lamentable aspects to this old doctor's life. His experience makes me even more aware of the importance of lifelong and comprehensive learning. To live a good life, fully utilize one's talents, and achieve one's life ambitions, a person needs to acquire a wide range of skills. One must be resilient and adaptable; when one path is blocked, one must have the ability to break through the obstacles and forge another path.

And this is something that the current talent cultivation model cannot achieve.