WBW 18: Schools Don't Teach Everything! Learn Beyond Your Education

We go to schools to learn for more than 2 decades, hoping one day to burst out of this world, fully equipped and ready to conquer. Unfortunately, things don't always work out as planned. Formal institutions, for all the knowledge that they can offer, are still limited – as not everything that we want to learn can be found within the walls of the classroom. Yet it’s a great, big world out there, and it really depends on your passion how you experience the world in your own terms, to learn what you want - even if you're the only person interested in it.  Learn from Dr. Francisco Navarro, MD as he experienced all these, becoming one of the country's top among - the few - acupuncturists.

Who Is Dr. Francisco Navarro, MD?

In the outtakes for this video, while just having relaxed banter with the Buffs, he said:

Now, if only all of us can answer similarly when asked, “what is your job?” Indeed, how exactly does he work and live?

Dr. Francisco Navarro is a medical doctor and a practicioner of traditional Chinese medicine, with focus on acupuncture. He holds clinic at the Ateneo de Manila University, and has been teaching the subject in the same university for seven years now.

Apart from his medical and academic endeavors, he has a very active sporting life. He is part of Extribe Race Organizers, of which he is the Medical Director, and of Team TriDogs, coaching swimming and concurrently team doctor for this group of triathletes.

He earned his Doctor of Medicine degree from University of the Philippines-Manila, after which he pursued further studies in acupuncture in Stanford University, California, USA; and Xiamen University, Xiamen, People’s Republic of China.

When asked what's his greatest challenge?

When asked what's his greatest success?

Show notes:

Learning In Spite of Education

• Went to one of the top schools, a Chinese school, which he later on found out was not very good at teaching Chinese.
• Very significant to his background because his family was not traditional Chinese. They didn't speak Chinese at home. "We don’t practice Chinese culture or identify ourselves strongly with being Chinese."
• Dad had the foresight to enroll him in a Chinese school, to learn Chinese, to reclaim Chinese heritage which they had so many generations ago.
• In Chinese school, he learned eventually that even the Chinese were not “that” Chinese. They look Chinese, but not really speaking or practicing or knowing. "Whereas I had nothing. So I had to study."
• The educational system for Chinese, he felt, really didn’t work. It was really lacking and failing at that time. "Nowadays, they say it’s a bit better because they improve how it’s being taught."
• He believes he's actually one of the few who break the stereotype (of those who graduated from that school), in that he can speak, read and write Chinese.
• He can say that he learned in spite of his education. Because he saw how the system was failing and limited, Doc Navarro had to study on his own, and he learned.

Making That Conscious Effort

• At first, he thought maybe because their background was not “Chinese enough.” But realized it was not because of that. It was really the system that was failing. "So if we rely on the system, we’d just complain like everyone else, that 'my education failed me; I didn’t learn anything.'”
• "But early on, I studied Chinese language and I learned. There was material there to be learned, but if I didn’t make that conscious effort that I had to study it, for whatever reason or future goal, then it wouldn’t have happened."
• This is true not just for any school – education, formalized institutions of learning, will be limited. It will only be able to teach you so much.

Don’t Let Education Limit You

• If you want to learn something or if there’s something that you feel you need to learn, then go out and pursue it. Otherwise, you’ll just end up complaining, blaming the school – and you end up being the loser, the bigger loser.
• "I’m a medical doctor. I went to UP and that’s another place where you see the limitations."
• "I was doing okay in school, in the hospital, in the clinics. Then eventually you had to choose which field you want to specialize in. Wala eh. I was very keen on the limitations of modern, Western medicine."
• "I saw that I could apply and get into some fields of medicine, but I realized it wasn’t for me. The conventional options in the hospital weren’t gonna do it for me. So I chose a very unconventional and unorthodox field – although half of the world would say it’s not unorthodox at all – I went into Chinese medicine. Medical acupuncture."

“Conventional” vs. “Alternative”

• On one hand, you have the conventional medical system saying it’s an “alternative” type of medicine, that it’s “not really” medicine.
• On the other hand, the rest of the world will say that it’s acceptable. It was what he wanted to study.
• What was available at that time didn’t include studying Chinese medicine. So he had to follow through and take the road less traveled.
• There are institutions that offer it, and there it’s conventional and orthodox.

Learning Something New? It’s All Relative

• It may be new from where you are at now, in the society you’re in. But there’s a big world out there, and to some people, it’s not new at all.
• So if you have to learn, learn from other people. Not just people that are all the same. In fact, people who have the same ideas and experiences will make you think it’ll be fun and easier, because you’re all gonna agree, but you’re probably not gonna learn, you’re probably not gonna grow.
• In order to learn, you have to get out of the comfort zone, out of that box, and go to unexplored territory. Whether it’s mental or physically going there, you have to do that.
• The limitations of education and shared experiences, you have to go outside of that to really learn.
• "That’s what I did. I studied Chinese medicine. I went to China and the US also. In the US, they are so eager to learn about Chinese medicine. Here, we’re like 'no, that’s not real medicine.' And this even from the Chinese here."
• "I went out, ventured, learned, met a lot of different people, learned a lot of new things, and then I brought it back. Now I’m a specialist in Chinese medical acupuncture."
• "I can say that added to my success. Now, I’m one of the top, the few."

It’s Easy to Learn If You Pursue It

• Pursue your learning. The top three things you can learn from are: 1) books and printed material, you just research; 2) people, mentors, teachers, people who have done it before, and 3) by experiencing it yourself.
• Books are like people also. Learning from books is like learning from people. It’s all written down. If you’re lucky, you can even find the author of the book, if they’re still alive.
• The third will be experience – actually doing it, knowing that you’re not very sure yet, you’re still learning. But your experience will be a great teacher.
• Books and people are like experiences also, because you learn from others’ experiences.
• "In my practice, it was hard because there weren’t many people doing Chinese medicine. So I had to learn from the few, and from books. I had to get out of the comfort zone, and learn from the people to whom it was the easiest thing for them."

Tying Up: Sports Medicine

• "I’ve been doing Chinese medicine and acupuncture for almost ten years now."
• "Somewhere along the way, I got involved with the local triathlon community. They wanted a race doctor and I was just free. Serendipity."
• They organize local races, of which, the biggest event would be Iron Man Philippines.
• Started out just as a race doctor. Didn’t know how acupuncture fits in, but it did eventually.
• The question was: Was he qualified enough? Does he need a degree to become a sports doctor? Is there sports medicine here?
• Now Doc Navarro is the race medical director of the group. He had four, five years of experience doing the work. He did the necessary research. He read books, he talked to coaches, to other doctors. The experience, the books, the people – you just have to do your homework. That brought him to where he is right now.

Tying Up: Teaching

• Eventually, you learn so much that it will lead you to teaching others. It’s a bit obvious for Chinese medicine, because only a few people know about it.
• "I’m one of the few who know it, so I’ll be the one teaching it. You take on a leadership role. You have to be an expert, in order to teach others. It pushes you up; you have to be better, so that others can be better also."
• "That’s true also with sports medicine, with race doctors and medics. I can’t do it all alone. For a race of 50 athletes, yes. For a race of 500 athletes, you have to lead other doctors. You lead them by teaching."
• You share what you learn. You lead by teaching.

Going Against The Grain

• "I knew it from the start that it was difficult. People doubted Chinese medicine as “not real” medicine. Even my parents think I was just going through a 'phase.'"
• "But I had more difficult things in my personal life where I went against the grain, that prepared me to go against the grain in my professional life."
• "I’ve always been doing things differently, and I know there will be people who will not understand. But one of the things that helps me move toward that direction is knowing that there is that direction."
• "I’m very happy about my decision. No question about that. Money was a realistic concern. But it was a simple case of supply and demand. I know my parents had that same concern: will this strange, new field feed me?"
• "I’m one of the few in my field. The demand is so great. So I knew it was gonna be good"

Lessons

• Learn in spite of your education.
• Make the conscious effort to learn. Go out of your comfort zone.
• It’s not a cliché: experience still is the best teacher.
• It’s easy to learn if you pursue it.
• If you have to, go against the grain.

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