ADULTS need not be contented with what they have learned as of the moment for education is a lifetime experience from being an infant up to old age. Even when one is still an infant, mothers or stepmothers already guide their babies on how to recognize milk from the nipples. Even in retirement, people keep learning new things. If one is a Roman Catholic, he may be learning new things about the Bible or about the canon law in religious seminars which may take two days long. That is still considered learning because one will be given a certificate of completion after these seminar trainings.

It is not just in a conventional training though that a certificate of completion is given. These certificates are likewise emailed to you where you can print a copy and affix your signature on it if you have completed a crash course online which may take two days to accomplish too. Even professionals take various crash courses to enhance their knowledge on the profession that they have dedicated to. Every once in a while – a year or so – accountants in any country meet for a seminar about updates on audit procedures and everything else in between. Infectious diseases experts all over the world meet every five years or so to update themselves on emerging Ebola threats in Congo or bird flu presence here and there. There may be an infectious diseases expert based in France who has discovered a new bacteria strain or a new antiviral formula which has not yet been learned by folks from CDC. That is why sharing knowledge with each other is important. And that is the essence of a lifetime of learning.

Another reason why people do not stop studying is to enhance themselves for promotion. That is why trainings and skills that one have achieved and can do respectively are important in one’s curriculum vitae. For example, I already have a bachelor’s degree in mass communications but I did not stop my education there. I took up a master’s degree in technological communications management, I took two weeks’ training on how to troubleshoot iPhones, another two weeks’ training on how to install Cisco products such as routers, game console adapters, bridges and range expanders as well as six weekends of training in reflexology and six months of training in medical transcription. See, I have diverse skills and companies will be impressed to hire me. Later on, I am planning to take up the advanced course in Teaching of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) so that I can teach English to South Koreans in the Philippines, to Thais in Phuket, to the Chinese in Beijing and to the French-speaking Canadians in Montreal. The possibilities are infinite. Who knows, I can become a movie dialogue coach in English. There’s an ongoing Hollywood production in the Philippines right now called Deep Gold and I have browsed online that they are in need of an English dialogue coach for the Cambodian actors and actresses on the set. I am planning to apply for that position.