Focus on happiness, love and respect

JOHN Lennon once said: “When I was five years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down ‘happy’. They told me I didn’t understand the assignment, and I told them they didn’t understand life.”

I was at a gathering for leaders of private universities when the Education Minister Dr Maszlee Malik, quoted John Lennon while he was outlining his vision of education in Malaysia. The vision is both simple and profound. The three values education is to be based on are happiness, love and mutual respect.