One morning, when I was reading a book in the living room, my son asked me
“Dad, why are you studying?”.
It seems his question was “you don’t need to study, but why are you studying?”
My son is 3rd grade of elementary school. Yes, studying is not fun for him at all but he thinks I enjoy learning.
Learning is fun!
I thought about his intention of the question for a moment and answered my son,
“Because it’s fun.”
and said
“That’s the main reason. And I may help others with my acquired knowledge and may make some money and buy you something.”
Why learning is fun?
I thought this was a good chance to think about the meaning and motivation of learning and tell my son.
I said to my son
“When I was in elementary school as you, I didn’t enjoy studying.”
and I said
“Main reason is that I couldn’t choose the subject I learn. Everyone has to study Math, ELA (English Language Arts), Science, Social study, PE (Physical education), etc. No choice. But now I can choose the subject whatever I like.“
“I can also choose textbooks, or I can learn from Websites/blogs or YouTube and go to the school and choose my teacher. And I can control the learning pace. No deadline, No homework. (or I would say everything is homework.)
And I had to spend more time on the subject that I’m not good at. If I got a test result that is 98 points / 100 for math and 52 points / 100 for ELA, math has only 2 points to improve but ELA has 48 points. Which subject I have to spend time on?
I didn’t say this to my son because it’s negative and doesn’t give a bad effect on his learning motivation. But now I can spend time on the one I like or the one I’m good at.
There is no choice for the subject to learn in elementary school but some choices are available in Middle school and more choices are available in High school. And we can choose to dedicate a major subject in university and can go to a master or doctor degree if we like.
Why learning is fun?
Because I can choose the subject what I will learn!
Thank you for reading this post.
If you are free to choose what you learn and take responsibility you can enjoy learning more!
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