YOU ARE NEVER TOO OLD TO LEARN

Updated on September 21st, 2022

Mr Antony had been waiting for his retirement to follow his passion  which he somehow could not pursue during his academic years. He had always wanted to do a doctorate in Psychology and be addressed as a Doctor along with his name, but his preoccupation with his work never left him any time to pursue it. Now, he had all the time to himself. He enrolled himself in a university which not only welcomed him but also gave him a senior citizen discount on the fees.

Mr Fernando, had lost out in his career as he did not have a MBA degree. When he reached 48 and started thinking about his retirement, he realised his mistake.  When he came to know about an online MBA course which only required nearly 20 hours a week of online study, he grabbed the opportunity and completed his MBA well before the laid down deadline for the course. When he reached his 50, with his upgraded qualification, he got an offer for a more responsible position in a new company with a raise of nearly 20 percent.

Mr Prasad had always wanted to learn French language as his son was settled there. However, he never could get adequate time to  pursue a full fledged  language course in French. Two months after retirement,  he took up a regular French language course for a duration of six months. Now, whenever he goes to France to look up his son, he feels at home as language is no longer a barrier. Earlier, he used to have a great difficulty as not many people converse in English in France.

Your are never too Old to Learn and there is no Upper Age Limit for Learning

Age is only numbers and it does not lay down limits on what you can and what you cannot. There are a large number of examples where individuals have achieved remarkable feats at an age which is well beyond the retirement age:

–Fauja Singh began running seriously at the age of 89.

–Grandma Moses began painting at the age of 78.

–Colonel Sanders was 65 years old when  with his chicken recipe, he started Kentucky Fried Chicken. 

–Socrates, one of world’s greatest philosophers, understood he could still learn and started on music in his 60s. 

–At age 95, Nola Ochs, an American woman, became the oldest college graduate when she received a bachelor’s degree in 2007. She didn’t stop there ­– she went on to pursue a Master’s degree as well.

It is never too late to learn anything new and you are never too old to do it. Everyone has dreams in his life, but not everyone is able to live his/her dreams due to various pressing constraints and unfavourable circumstances. You may not have got the course of your choice as a student or may not have had the choice of the profession or activities you loved during your working life. However, whatever age you may be at, you will always  have time in this life to make good some of  your unfulfilled dreams. It’s never too late to follow your dreams, and there’s no time like the present to start . You are never too old to set new goals. Therefore, use the lessons learnt from the past, concentrate on the present and focus on the future to make your dreams come true.

“Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at 20 or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young.”Henry Ford

You are never too old to pick up a new skill for starting a new venture. It is never too late to undertake a course of your liking for improving your knowledge or for pursuing your hobbies or interest. When you have chosen a course which you want to do rather than being told to do, you are much more likely to do well and succeed.

Retirement : Best Time to Learn

-Retirement is the best time in your life as it gives you unlimited time to do whatever you want. It is easy to while away this time by sleeping late, watching TV, doing household chores or playing with your grandchildren. These activities may keep you busy but will not give you a sense of fulfilment.

-There are a large number of activities which add value to your life like learning a new language, musical instrument, starting a new venture or doing something worthwhile which contributes to the community. Pursuing these activities will give a new meaning and purpose to your life. Before departing from this world, you want to leave a mark, create a memory or make as many people happy as possible.

Why is Learning Something New becomes Relevant as You Age?

-Learning builds your brainpower and extends your life. Every time you learn something, your brain grows new cells.  It always keeps you young, no matter what your age is.

-Learning keeps the mind energised, and prevents you from cognitive decline as you get older. It improves your memory and helps preventing Dementia or Alzheimer’s.

-Your experience,  knowledge and wisdom will decay if not boosted by continued learning.

-Learning something new which you like, makes you feel good, lifts your self-esteem and adds excitement to your life.

-Your creativity does not diminish with age. In fact it becomes better.

Learning Courses

There is a wide variety of courses available today to choose from depending upon one’s interest and inclination. Courses in continuing education broadly fall under two categories:

Courses for improving skills in work place or for starting a new venture.

Courses to upgrade your knowledge or help you pursue your Hobbies and Leisure Activities.

The people who are still in active work force fall in the first category. Most of the retirees fall into the second category.

You can undertake these courses either through regular class room learning or distance learning. Today the digital technology has made it possible to do these courses online with the similar effect as that of class room studies. Online learning has gained popularity recently due to our increasing comfort with technology.

Why online courses are a better choice for adult learning

-Most of these courses are well structured, user friendly and easy to understand. The professionally made videos give you a near- classroom effect.

-You do not require any specific computer skills to do these courses. Working knowledge is more than adequate. You can use Desktop, Laptop, Tablet or even your Mobile phone to do these courses.

-You can do these courses in the comfort of your home at your own time

-There is no fear of any grades or peer pressure.

-If you fail in your assignments in the first attempt, you can do it again without any hangups.

-Most of the courses give a course completion certificate, diploma or degree. Some may charge for the certificate.

-You automatically become members of many discussion forums where you can contribute your views and interact with other through chatting or through video conferencing.

-You can continue with them even while you are on vacation or travelling.

-There is no real pressure of time as most of these courses are paced comfortably. In case you lag behind, You can re-enrol from where you left in the next batch.

– Free online courses do not put any financial burden on you. This gives you a flexibility in leaving a course mid-way and taking another one if you feel it is not to your liking.

Where to find these courses?

There are a large number of Universities and Institutions offering online courses, many of them which are free. These courses range from subjects involving serious academic studies to hobbies and leisure activities. You can always find a subject suiting your interest and liking. Some courses are so general like course on ‘Happiness’, ‘Food and Wine’,   ‘Nutrition’, ‘Stress Management’, ‘Ageing and Longevity’ etc  that they will suit everybody.

A long list of all the Universities and Institutions offering online free courses would appear once you search the web. I have listed a few popular sites offering online courses. You may click on the site names for getting more details. You may explore other sites (ones not listed) as well if you do not find a course that you are looking for.

Coursera, an education aggregation platform that teams with universities worldwide to offer thousands of free online courses. It offers an impressive number of courses on a wide variety of  topics. Presently, nearly 10 percent of students are in the 60 plus age group.

EdX, the nonprofit online course site started by Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, with some other universities also joining in.

ALISON has a large range of free courses on financial literacy, personal and soft skills, digital skills and entrepreneurship.

Udemy offers a number of courses in tech, business, marketing, productivity, health, hobbies and lifestyle. Considered good  for people who want to improve their business, marketing, and creative skills.

Skillshare provides short courses to learners who only limited time at their disposal. It has over 500 free classes and several thousand paid classes in topics such as film, writing, tech, lifestyle, and more.

FutureLearn  offers completely free courses in business and management, creative arts, law, health, politics, science, digital skills, sports and leisure, and teaching. It is good for those who want the most flexibility in a learning platform.

Free code camp offers  free courses on  computers, internet technology, and data analysis. Lessons primarily cover coding and computer science.

Khan Academy is a non-profit site that offers education on hundreds of topics. It includes written and video lessons as well as practice exercises. Students, teachers, and parents can all sign up to Khan Academy to gain access to free online material suitable for school students.

Udacity focuses on software development, offering free courses in programming, data science, and web development. Good for individuals who want to learn about technologies like AI and robotics.

So, don’t hesitate to experiment with online courses. Take up a short course on a general interest subject  for a trial. I have myself completed 14 courses online after my retirement. I am sure, as in my case, it will open up your mind and generate a chain of new ideas.