“Nothing that is worth knowing can be taught.”

-Oscar Wilde

Last night, I had a chat about education with Julian Shenoy [@JulianMKTR] on Twitter and it reminded me  of a story.

During my trip to Vietnam a few years ago, I met a smart lady friend of my father, Tuyet. She was so nice to me and we hung out a lot. She told me the story how she met my father.

Eight years ago, after my mother took my sister and me to Canada, my father stayed behind  to rebuild his legacy. One day Tuyet and her husband came to my father’s apartment to pitch their interior design service.  My father recognized that the very bright young lady was not educated, and he didn’t want the talent to be wasted. Tuyet came from a poor little town in Vietnam. She dropped out at an early age to work and support her family. Before she met my father,Tuyet did not even know when Vietnam’s Independence Day is. My father spent hours every night after work tutoring Tuyet. Few years later, he hired her as vice president of one of his companies.

Image background:  yann.co.nz

I was surprised because my dad did not teach me like he taught Tuyet at all. My parents rarely help me with school work or directly teach me anything. I only remember my mom helping me with my homework  in grade one because I was struggling [ all my classmate took summer school.They  already knew how to read before school started, and I didn't]. I came to my dad and asked him why he does not teach me.

And this was his answer Read more…