Learning is a process that never ends. It can speed up and slow down depending on one’s ability, age, health and motivation level, but the day it ends is when one’s dead. Learning helps you grow mentally as well as physically as you keep getting more and more experiences and knowledge. When you are young it’s almost involuntary and thus you don’t tend to put too much effort to learn something unless you are not interested; though it’s not the same as you grow old. You have to prepare yourself, keep your mind sharp and healthy, and find potential motivating factors to keep your learning curve steep for long.
The question is what are the motivating factors? Researchers from the University of Hong Kong, Yuanyuan Fu, Xinyi Zhao and Ernest WT Chui, conducted research on the elderly Chinese in Hong Kong who were involved in studies or learning anyway. The research helped them realize that four factors play a major role in pushing people to learn. One of them is the aged Chinese’s need to stay with the world today and contribute to the society. Then it is their urge of personal fulfillment. Also, for them, learning is a means of engaging with the society and appearing as a regular part of it. The strongest reason for relatively less old people is that learning would help them get a job again.
All the factors vary according to ages of the older adults, their beliefs and certain more things that influence their life. To learn more about this research please read the article, Motivations of older Chinese adult learners in Hong Kong, published in the journal, Current Aging Science.