When I was a graduate student, my professor
had asked me to teach him how to use a computer. That was in the 1990s.
Personal computers had spread rapidly in Japanese society. My professor’s major
was Western classical studies, but he was interested in computers. I taught him
how to use a computer at the university. To start, I turned on a computer and
showed him the icons of different software.
Then I said, “Please click this icon with
your mouse.”
My professor physically lifted up the mouse
and clicked the icon on the computer monitor directly. This is true! He was one
of the authorities of Western classical studies in Japan. He had predicted the
future! Still, we didn’t have touchscreen technology at that time. I bit back
laughter desperately, but this is not a laughing matter.
Almost thirty years have passed. I have aged.
If I want to study something now, in most cases, my teachers might be younger
than me. If I hesitate to learn from young teachers, I can’t study anything.
Now I need to follow my professor’s example. I have to learn from young
teachers. Asking makes one appear foolish, but not asking also makes one
foolish indeed.
Now I am studying English, Chinese, and
computer technology. All of my teachers are younger than me. When I had a
younger teacher for the first time, I felt strange, but now I get used to young
teachers.
Still, sometime, I imagine, I might make a
stupid mistake like my professor did. Then these young teachers might have to bite
back their laugher desperately. We learn through mistakes for a lifetime.
