Back in the Saddle
May 4, 2009 by Brenda Hendricks
What's it like to be over 50 and a college student? If you are considering taking the plunge you are not alone! According to the American Council on Education there are over 54 million people between the ages of 55 to 79 attending college. Some for the first time, some returning to complete a degree they never finished , and in increasing numbers, those persuing an Encore Career.
I fall into the last category. After a career of 20 years in home visit social work I deceided to retire. I quickly came to the conclusion that I wasn't ready for the three wheeled bike and the trailer in Florida. I was also sure that I had paid my dues on the coakroach patrol and I wanted to return to my undergraduate degree in Biology. I was quickly informed that if I wanted to go in that direction that I would need to update all my core science cirriculum since that had all changed.
I apparently now belong to a new demographic called the Third Age. My grandparents lived into their 60's as could be expected during the 1950's. My parents lived into their 70's. I can, at least from an actuarial standpont, expect to live to 100. Not only is life expectancy increased, but the probability that I will remain a healthy, active and productive member of society is in my favor.Enter the Third Age. Apparently this is what now comes after youth and middle age, but before being old.
So what do I do with this second life time? According Ken Dychtwald, this age is a time of personal acheivement and self development. I am part of an age bracket with the time and financial resources to redefine my self and look at a second or Encore Career. This is a time to go back to the choices I made to get a Master Degree in Social Work and forgoe my other love of science. I have the equivallent of a second life time and i can do it all over again!
Columbus State seems to be an affordable option and offers smaller classes and convenient locations, so this is where I've chosen to begin.
So what is it like being back in the classroom again? Do I stick out like a sore thumb? Can I compete with kids just out of High School?
First of all, I'm certainly not the only older student in the classroom. My classes have been a heterogeneous mix of students ranging from those not out of High School taking post secondary option classes, to traditional students, to the 30 plus crowd looking to improve their job options, to those my age or older. The idea that you graduate from High School and proceed directly to College for four years no longer exists. College classes, like the work place , are made up of every age bracket. Most of the students I've encountered at Columbus State have been a part of that work place and are able to socialize well with a broad range of ages and cultures. Besides, these younger students are used to helping their parents figure out how to use a calculator or find useful web sites, like ratemyprofessor.com.
As far as the cirriculum is concerned it is certainly more challenging, but at the same time the techniques for teaching this cirriculum have changed. Gone are the days of reading five pages of how the charge on the electron was discovered while you hold your eyes open with clothes pins. You log on to your homework assignment and watch an animation showing the path of the electron towards the charged magnet and there it is! I can tell you that Math and Chemistry are much more fun with a TI-84 than they ever were with slide rules! Back in the day , quadratic equations were solved and graphed by hand. It took forever, especially if you made a mistake in any of the steps and had to do it over and over. Now the problem and the graph are solved with the calculator. This means that you can cover ten times more material in a math class but its no longer time consuming and frustrating. Now you can spend your time on applying the math to relevant situations and seeing its usefulness.
So what about those potential students who don't have the financial resources to return to the classroom?The American Association of Community Colleges has launched a 50 plus initiative to provide grants to community colleges to develop pathways for learning for the 50 plus crowd. Metlife has monies available for disbursement through a competive grant application process for community colleges who apply. A federal initative is also in the works. How about it Columbus State? Where do we stand on grant development and funding options? Is this an area of funding that our college is actively persuing? Are we a part of the advocacy effort to provide more funding? I'd like to hear some feedback from the powers that be on how we can facilitate education opportunities for more Third Age students from every background. There is potential out there to be developed. How do we make this happen?