Dominic Fox wrote:
>Higher education is wasted on the young. Well, not all of them. But
>there are definitely some who would be better off coming back to it
>later on in life when they'd got their motivations sorted out a bit.
>(I mean better off educationally; as for the qualifications arms-race,
>I can't speak to that).
>
>Speaking as a former teaching assistant, my experience has been that
>"mature" students enrich universities immensely; there should be more
>of them. Especially on writing courses, I rather think - get some
>people in there who have something to write about!
>
>
Amen Selah. The most fun I ever had in classrooms was working with
older or "non-traditional" students either in upstate New York or in a
certificate program in a college in the Bronx. These people were often
miseducated and/or had fallen into the numerous sinkholes in public
education. It took me about 10 minutes to figure out I was not going to
"save" anyone or reverse compulsory miseducation in 10 weeks. But I
would use the comp and public speaking course as a way to teach them how
to cultivate the right attitude and "game face" in what I admitted was a
white/non-Hispanic world. Nobody got offended.
Of course, in a couple of weeks I'm going back to retirement community
near where I live to teach Opera Appreciation. No Ph.D. required, just
a passion that takes me back to first hearing La Boheme when I was 14.
I haven't looked back since.
Ken
--
Kenneth Wolman
Proposal Development Department
Room SW334
Sarnoff Corporation
609-734-2538
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