Younger Teachers

 

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.