Dr Theodore Roosevelt Malloch, Prof and Fellow, University of Oxford, UK, today asked students to be perpetual learners, though they have finished their education.
"While you may think you have finished your education today or that you now possess a terminal degree, I have to tell you that nothing could be further from the truth.
"You see the global economy that we compete in and India is at the heart of it, and the very nature of free enterprise and competition mean that you all will have to become what I call,perpetual learners."
"Because the minute you stop learning, you die. I do not want to leave you with an impression that this is just mad activity, memorizing more facts or cramming for more tests as cogs caught up in the hustle and bustle of modern life, as we know it," said Roosevelt who is the great grandson of former US president and Nobel Laureate, Franklin D Roosevelt.
"Unless you substitute true leisure for our hectic amusements, we will destroy our culture, its collected wisdom-and ourselves. So graduates, continue to set time apart for thinking, for meditative reflection and for re-creation. Be perpetual learners," he said at the 12th Convocation of Karunya University here.
Asking the students to not fall prey to the temptations of material life, of work as toil or living without a purpose, Roosevelt asked them to make their a purpose-driven life and make a difference not just for themselves but also for eternity.
University Chancellor, Dr Paul Dinakaran conferred honorory degree of D.Sc on Roosevelt and presented degrees to 2,122 graduates at the convocation.
