Endless learning and love

Have you ever wanted to learn something new? Have you ever dreamed of that knowledge embodying with you? Yeah, I've been there too. That thrill you feel when you see someone smart, when you see applied knowledge, when you see the joy in the eyes of those who create, that's the moment you say to yourself: "I want to do that too!".

The story of engineering professor

That was my reaction when I saw a robot built by a professor at the university I've attended. Then he showed a program he was working on, it used some sensors for capturing eye movement and gave us students to see if the program he wrote works. With that program, one could control the UI of a computer just with eyes. I was amazed. I asked the professor: "But why are you building this? You'll make people lazy!" and he replied "No! This is not built for everyday people, this is built for those who experienced some accident and are unable to use their extremities.". After that statement, I was even more amazed.

He was one of the men I somehow adored, full of positive energy and attitude. His knowledge of C programming language was so deep, he could even explain on the assembly level what was happening within some function call. Not to mention the knowledge of electronics, he literally could build anything. So at one moment I asked him "Pardon me, professor, can I ask you a question, but please don't get offended!" and he replied: "of course, come on!", so I asked him "Professor, where did you learn all of these things you know? With all due respect, you couldn't learn all of that at this university.", then he smiled, looked at me and told: "I've learned it on my own.". And this moment was the birth of my desire to learn.

Besides the knowledge he possessed, the professor was very humble, he wouldn't call anyone stupid ever, which was another reason why he inspired me to learn. He had faith in each of his students.

Me before the professor's inspiration

Unlike the professor from the university, in elementary school, I had a teacher who was really rude saying "the teacher sent you dumb into 5th grade. You don't know anything about math! You're dumb...". And as a kid what do you know about life? If an adult says you're dumb they're probably right since they know more. And for quite an amount of time, I was living for the lowest grade in math since I believed I could not perform better.

When I enrolled at the university I had a professor who yelled at us saying that we will never be developers, that we are stupid. That professor even assumed that the bad developers are web developers, so the professor would say that we will all be web developers because we're worthless. Another professor didn't want to explain integral calculus to me, the professor said: "look it up online". This list can go on and on...

But despite these unpleasant experiences, I was lucky as a kid when I sum it all up. I got the chance to meet amazing people and make great friendships which end up inspiring me to learn a lot of different things. For example, I learned how to draw:

I learned how to juggle and do some tricks:

I even learned how to solve a rubric cube and I've learned how to beatbox. Do you know what all of these things got in common? The people who inspired me were the ones who also believed in me. They embraced my hard times, ready to help when I was desperate and when I had a lot of questions.

What lessons did I learn from all of this experience?

I'm 25 years old now and only recently I'm coming to some conclusions and enlightenment for which I assume should have been normal for me as a kid. Why? As a kid, I didn't know what is self-confidence, as I said, I was simply lucky to meet amazing people who inspired me. Maybe this sounds funny, but try giving someone a task that seems easy, and if they fail it's most likely that they'll feel stupid since it seemed easy. That is the moment someone's self-confidence is broken. But tell those people that failing just means learning and you'll give them a confidence boost. That's what happened to me when those amazing people inspired me, even though they maybe were not aware of it, including me at that time.

So what's the point of all of this? Well, these are the things I wish I knew when I was kid:

• You can learn anything!
• It's normal not to know something. We all were at the point where we had 0 knowledge of something.
• It's okay to struggle with learning, especially when something is totally new.
• It's okay to ask for help. People think that depending on other people is a weakness, but it should not be. At work, we should work as one unit, as one body, and if one limb suffer, all other limbs suffer. The eye cannot say to leg "I don't need you" nor the leg cannot say to the eye "I do not need you". What would happen if all the body were eye? Then where is walking? What would happen if all body is leg? Where is seeing then? People depend on one another, and that's normal.
• Learning is the process, and when people struggle to understand even the smallest thing, that is the moment where they are most likely to get broken. Don't ever use word "dumb", "stupid" or anything similar. You know who can you call stupid? Ignorant people. You don't need to say "you're the best" and force some fancy words, just acknowledge someone's struggle, show them that they are growing and that you are supporting.
• The most important one which somehow sums up all the above: knowledge not embodied with love will only bring destruction. The knowledge that is not shared is useless. What about the knowledge that is shared without love? The problem with this one is that it does not ignite curiosity. Once the teacher makes you curious you'll learn yourself, nobody will need to make you learn something.

So next time you see someone struggle with something they are learning, if you can: help, if you cant: support them. And remember, you can learn anything...always!

I recently found out the right term for that approach: growth mindset. It's the theory that the person is able to learn whatever they want. We all once were at 0, we all didn't know how to read at a certain point of time, but through a little bit of a struggle, we learned. We learned even the second language or something else.

This video from Khan Academy inspired me quite much, the simple message is "You can learn anything". And it's a simple truth, but not embraced enough in the community.

I wish you good luck with your learning journey, and if you're a teacher on that journey please be kind.