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It’s Never Too Late to Learn Infographic
Ever since the 19th century, when education was first standardized, learning in popular imagination is highly connected to age. The school system, back then and now, is modeled after a factory – people get education in batches, based on their date of manufacture. If you were manufactured seven years ago, that means it’s time to learn the multiplication table, for instance. And if you are ten and you still have not mastered the table, you are reshuffled to the un-smart batch. Perfect logic. Except the lives of many successful people proved it wrong. They mastered a skill at an older age. They are late bloomers. Late bloomers are people who achieved proficiency in some skill later than they are normally expected to. The key word is “expected.” The It’s Never Too Late to Learn Infographic presents famous late bloomers who managed to succeed late in life and how they did it.
Famous Late Bloomers
- Joseph Conrad (English Writer): Until 20 Joseph spoke no English at all
- Paul Cezanne (Painter): Until 20 never painted
- Rocky Marciano (Undefeated boxer): Until 20 never boxed
- J.K. Rowling (Writer): Until 23 taught school
- Sylvester Stallone (Actor): Until 24 only had adult film roles
- Vincent Van Gogh (Painter): Until 27 did not paint, only drew
- Alan Rickman (Actor): Until 28 had no film roles
- Reid Hoffman (Startup Entrepreneur): Until 30 never started companies
- Julia Child (The French Chef): Until 30 knew no French cuisine
- Martha Stewart (Home Decorator): Until 35 did no home decorating
Dave Mc Cure (Angel Investor): Until 40 did no investing - Momofuku Ando (Instant noodle inventor): Until 48 sold salt, was in jail
- Grandma Moses (Painter): Until 78 never painted
- Fauja Singh (Marathon Runner): Until 89 though marathons were 26 kilometres
Learning something late in life might sound like a bad deal if you compare yourself to all the young talented folk. Understandable. The catch is that doing something earlier does not necessarily make you better at it than if you did it later. Could you say that Stallone is a worse actor than actors who started in their teens? Was Julia Child a worse cook just because she started cooking at 30? With Fauja Singh it’s even easier – just finishing the marathon at all he already wins.
Rick W. Burkett runs the John A. Logan College Teaching and Learning Center, teaches history, heads runs an educational nonprofit. He publishes blogs on a wide variety of topics, including history, teaching and learning, student success, and teaching online.
