What Steve Jobs learn't from a calligraphy class

Whether or not you are a techno-wizard or not, I am sure we have heard the name Steve Jobs.

Or maybe… Macbook, iTunes or the famous iPod.

Jobs recalled in the 2005 commencement address at Stanford University:

“Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country… “

“I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to [learn calligraphy]….And I found it fascinating”.

He later goes on to say:

“None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography.

If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would never have multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, it’s likely that no personal computer would have them “.

Steve Jobs neatly summed : there is no such thing as a useless education. I have been in classes where I have spent half the lesson doodling on my notes, wondering why on earth I was enrolled in the class. In grade 9, when it was time to choose our elective subjects I chose the science subjects: pure maths, biology, chemistry and physics. Even when I had decided I did not want to pursue a career in any of those fields, I still stuck to the subjects. Partly because I was forced to… But more than that.

People still ask me why I took those subjects, while I still had the option of taking other subjects that were more related to what I am studying now( no maths or chemistry!). Why I endured hours of doing simultaneous equations and doing science practicals, whilst I could have taken “easier” subjects. But maybe someday my knowledge of the periodic table will have some practical use in my life?

The point is: try new things. Learn a random language that is not commonly spoken. Watch a documentary on some foreign subject. Tap into your inner most curiosity.

One of my dreams is to take a course in film. What are yours?