LEARN
BY DOING
I have a granddaughter. She is just over a year
old.
Some days back I saw her trying to take a small
tube of toothpaste out of its box. Her little fingers
did not have the strength to grip the tube to pull
it out. She was very frustrated and shook the box
around.
Suddenly, when the box was upside down, the toothpaste
tube fell out.
Now that she had got it out, she decided she wanted
to put it back in. So she put the box upright, and
put the tube in.
Then what did she do?
She turned the box upside down and made the toothpaste
tube fall out again. She then put it back into the
box. Again and again she made the tube fall out
and put it back in the box.
What was happening?
She was having fun learning a new way to take something
out of a box! You can try to pull it out. You can
also turn the box upside down to make it fall out.
But I was learning something important also…
We can learn by copying what others do. It is a
good way of learning. But it also means we will
always be behind them.
If we want to be ahead, we must also learn by trying
new ways. By experimenting. By "shaking things
about" and watching what happens.
The point is to Learn by Doing.
Don’t just talk. Don’t just think. Do!
Confucius, the great Chinese teacher and thinker
who lived from 551 BC to 479 BC, taught something
important about learning by doing.
He said:
I hear and I forget.
I see and I remember.
I do and I understand.
Do you find this to be true in your life?…
It is only when you do something that you really
understand what actually you have to do, how to
do it and why you are doing it.
This issue of Challenge is about the three
values in the Public Service: Integrity, Service,
Excellence.
Don’t just note them. Think about how to put
them into action. Make them real. Make them part
of your life. Try and try again. Do and do again.
Not just the same old ways but also in new ways.
Learn by Doing.
Lim Siong Guan Head,
Civil Service |
