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芥末堆的白日梦想家lady lion & penni为大家带来全球范围内、各行各业有关教育故事、讨论的来信。

下面这封信出自于一个前性别研究教授——Stephen（全名Stephen Whitehead），信中内容涉及到他本人的教育经历。具体如下：

My story about education is that I left school two weeks before my 15th birthday with no qualifications whatsoever. I could, however, read, write and do maths. I could also touch-type which was to prove very useful later in life.

I returned to education at the age of 31. By the time I was aged 60, I had an HE Diploma, an MA, a PGCE, and a PhD. Plus I’d had 11 books published and numerous academic journal articles. I was a Professor of Gender Studies and had lectured at leading universities around the world.

Education changed my life - for the better. As a teacher, university lecturer, Professor, and now Director of a company that owns and manages private and international schools in South East Asia, I have witnessed first hand the positive and profound changes education has brought to many, many others.

Therefore, my opinion about education is that it is the best thing that can happen to anyone. Without education humans are in the dark and in the dark lurks ignorance, foolishness, fear, mindlessness and no light to the future.

My hope for education is that it becomes universal, continuous and free. So we never stop learning, first at school and then through some formal but flexible system thereafter. Not K-12 but K-death. This will come eventually. Artificial Intelligence will remove the need for full time paid employment. Governments will be wise and enlightened enough to see that the tax income from AI is spread throughout the state, so that people can prosper and in prospering whilst also having more free time, so they learn and become knowledgeable and better educated; ergo, society is strengthened, social cohesion is strengthened, we all get wiser and we all contribute.

This is the only future for humankind.

Anything other scenario will see us disappear.

Lady Lion： I am really curious about what makes you return to education at your 31? after 15 years since you left school? Do you ever think u are receiving an another form of education during this 15~16 years?

For me, it was the quite unremarkable act of watching a marathon take place past my house in Leeds, north of England, in 1980. That spurred me on to taking up running myself. Running spurred me on to becoming a sports coach. I took exams and became a British Senior Athletics Coach, with my own squad of local, national and international athletes (all runners). Carnegie Sports College, very well known in the UK, was just a short run from my home so I took the chance to see if I could enroll on any courses. I was interviewed and they said yes. Allowing me to become a part-time student on a BA degree in Sports Coaching. My coaching qualifications got me in. And my enthusiasm. Brilliant! My first taste of adult learning. (my job at the time was restaurant/pub manager). That experience eventually got me part-time work teaching in schools and colleges in Leeds. I went full time and the college where I was working paid for me to do a PGCE. Two years later the opportunity came to do a part-time MA in Sociology, at Leeds Met Univ. That was a big step up and a real challenge but I got a distinction, much to my amazement. I loved the higher level learning. The decision to go on to a PhD was not that hard to take. I was awarded my doctorate in December 1996. My life changed totally after that.

As far as the years between 15 and 31, I never thought about formal education. I wanted to earn money, follow a career, build my life. I never envisaged going to university and even less so one day becoming a Professor myself and writing books. But during those years I was reading a lot. I was broadening my general knowledge, and many questions were forming in my mind. I had a strong sense of under-achieving intellectually, especially by the time I passed 30. 

Education gave me pretty much everything I have today. I try to put as much back in as I can.

Thanks for asking me this question, Lady Lion.

英语六级没奖问答，Stephen Whitehead几岁辍学？中间为什么当了田径教练？他对教育的期望是什么？

结语：对于你的教育故事，以及对教育的观点，欢迎来信与我们分享：chuying.liang@jmdedu.com