"Lifelong learning" was a common buzzword when I was teaching adults. It meant adults continuing to study and learn new things - for work or for pleasure - long after formal education had ended.
So I was intrigued when a student in my University of Ottawa ESL class, told me she worked in the "lifelong learning" department of a school board in Japan.
What kind of classes do adults take in Japan? I asked her.
She seemed puzzled by my question.
Well, here adults study computers, foreign languages or hobbies in non-credit classes - that's lifelong learning in Canada, I explained.
Oh, we don't have that in Japan, she replied. "Lifelong learning" is only for children.
But lifelong means all your life, not just when you are a child... I tried to explain.
But she just looked at me blankly and said: It doesn't mean that in Japan.
We too, in English, borrow expressions from other cultures, then subtly change their meaning to suit our culture. "It takes a village to raise a child" is one such expression. We take it to mean, I suppose, that a child learns in many places, not just at home. But in Africa, where the expression originates, my understanding is that a child is expected to respectfully take correction from any adult, not only parents or family members.
Back home, if I see a child doing something wrong, I go over and tell him or her not to, one African student told me. I do that even if I don't know the child. But here in Canada, adults don't talk to children they don't know. Parents get angry if I go over and talk to their child. It's very confusing.
(I guess it's easier to borrow expressions from other cultures than to modify our cultural habits!)
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