Oakwood Collegiate Institute, 991 St. Clair Avenue West, Toronto, Ontario
If I were back in high school, knowing what I know now, then I would take full advantage of the excellent learning opportunities high school offered. I would put all my effort into learning and learning and more learning. I would drive the teachers crazy by asking them questions and questions and more questions.
Unfortunately, I knew everything when I was young. I spent time trying to do the least amount of work to get the highest marks. I did not care about learning. I saw it as a chore. I never realized how much fun learning could be.
What is it about school that takes away the fun out of learning? What happens to children’s immense curiosity about everything after they go to school? Imagine children having so much fun learning at school that they look forward to doing homework, and do not look forward to the weekends or the summer holidays.
“Oh no! Are the summer holidays here again? I can’t wait for them to be over so I can get back to school.”
Fortunately, you are never too old to learn. And it is never too late to ask, “Why?”
Oakwood Collegiate Institute, my high school, has a motto: Tempus Litteris Demus. In this context, it is Latin for Take The Time To Learn.
Now that I am not as smart as I was when I was young, I am taking the time to learn. I no longer hate algebra, trigonometry and calculus as I did when I was in high school. Physics and chemistry are next on my list to learn. Thanks to the Toronto Public Library, it does not cost me any money to take the time to learn.
I have become a child again. (Perhaps I never stopped being one.) I want to learn everything about everything. I want to know “Why?” I no longer feel inadequate saying, “I don’t know” because I do know that I am going to have so much fun trying to find out.
The meaning of life? Learning. Even after I die, I will keep learning. No fires or hot temperatures will stop me.
