Being back in a classroom can help you reach your goals—if you take advantage of your older-brain skills.
LEARNING ON PURPOSE— THE OLDER AND WISER WAY
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hirteen years ago, at age 56 and after more than three decades as a writer of educational materials for children, I decided to pursue an encore career as a community educator to older adults. So I entered a college graduate-level gerontology program and took my place as a student. After such a long absence from a university setting, I was worried: Would my older brain be able to tap into those long lost study habits of researching, paper writing, memorizing, and test taking? Could I hold my own among classmates 30 years my junior? Or would stereotypical generational expectations get in the way of us accepting one another as peers?
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3rd Act magazine | fall 2021
BY JEANETTE LEARDI THE OLDER—AND WISER—STUDENT
If you’re like me, your early student years were preoccupied mostly with getting good marks on papers and tests, pleasing your teachers, and moving on to the next grade level. The ultimate goal? Finishing school and getting that first well-paying job in the career of your choice. But as we age, our motivations often change. As we are more independentminded and experienced, our reasons for reentering the classroom may be mainly socially purpose-driven. Whether we enroll in an academic program, or an informal lifelonglearning class, we want to learn things just for the sake of learning, help us
give back to society, or leave a legacy for those we love. Nevertheless, we often doubt whether or not we’re still up to the task of “hitting the books.” My back-to-school experience taught me two important lessons about us older students: 1) We have a greater stockpile of knowledge from which to draw than our decades-younger selves had; and 2) We require specifically tailored learning approaches because our brains have changed. OUR CHANGING BRAINS
Beginning around age 30, our brains shrink in volume about one-half of 1% each year, our reaction times slow down, and we may find it harder to multitask, follow complicated www.3rdActMag.com
