56YO Woman Who Just Graduated from NTU Shows Us That Age is Just a Number

Growing up, you would have heard the saying “never ask a woman her age”. But have you ever wondered why?

I haven’t, until today. So I did some soul-searching and found a few reasons, as well as a highly accurate meme.

Here’s what the internet has to say:

“…society feels the value and appeal of a woman decreases with age while a man’s value and worth increases with age”, according to Belleville News-Democrat.

“…a woman is judged for fertility based on her age” and “society perceives her age as a yardstick for achievements in her life, like marriage, child, etc”, with reference to Speaking Tree.

Here’s what I have to say:

It could be attributed to the fact that I’m not at that age yet but personally, I have nothing against people who ask for a lady’s age. Unless we’re talking about a situation whereby her age is used against her in an argument for instance. That’s not cool.

I can’t say for all women but there’s a lady who should be proud of her age and her achievements.

Lady received her University degree at 56 years old

The lady that deserves an honourable mention on this hot and humid day is none other than Choo Siew Eng.

At 56 years old, Mdm Choo has graduated from Nanyang Technological University with a degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering on 23 July, Tuesday.

Roles were reversed and NTU even took to Facebook to feature their star student with her proud son.

According to the post which has since garnered 1.4K likes and 159 shares, Mdm Choo had entered the workforce as a technician with an O-level certificate.

With reference to Mothership, Mdm Choo has a son and daughter aged 30 and 25 respectively. In addition, she took up a part-time diploma course in Nanyang Polytechnic in 2000. 40 years later, she now has a degree to add to her collection.

Truly inspiring.

But if that hasn’t proved that age is just a number, here’s a look at other people around the world who are just as inspirational as Mdm Choo.

Kim Chil-doo 

Kim is a 65-year-old model who has been strutting his stuff since his first beginnings at the 2018 Seoul Fashion Week. He has great plans to further his career and attend big international shows in Paris, London and Milan.

Whang-od Oggay

Whang-od turned 102 this year but that doesn’t deter her from working as a tattoo artist. The Filipino has been tattooing people traditionally since she was 15 and sees her fair share of tourists who visit her for her craft.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. To learn more about these resilient individuals who never say never, click here.