Monday, January 25, 2016

Senior citizens who listen, ponder and question

I attend 2 to 4 lectures a week in this organization for older citizens.  But whenever people try to explain what the group is, they begin using the phrase "lifelong learning".  I imagine the alliteration of the two L sounds makes those words come to the tongue easily.  But I think that description could be improved on.  It makes us sound like we attend to learn things.  Learning is something we were supposed to have done in school, where we had to take tests to show that we had learned.  

Everyone knows that school tests don't really check everything we have learned but they represent a challenge and sometimes ridicule, punishment or disappointment if we didn't do well enough on the tests to satisfy ourselves or our parents.  In the organization I am thinking about, called "Learning Is ForEver" or "L.I.F.E.", we don't have any tests.  We don't have any homework but one or another of those who attend may go home, find a book or articles that extend the ideas.  How do we know we are learning if we don't pass tests?  We don't.  

I think it really is the discussion as well as the words chosen by the presenter that lay a foundation for us to think about the subject at hand.  Between 70 and 100 presentations are available over about 15 five-day weeks, or more than one a day.  The subjects are chosen by a committee and the members get a listing before it all begins. From that listing, each member ticks off the presentations they desire to attend.  It is quite rare for all those who selected the session to attend.  Usually between a third and half of the roster comes.  

It is a little difficult to say just why people come.  Meeting together is a social event and over time, we get to know each other pretty well.  An outstanding characteristic of the group is their maturity and their excellent, insightful and sometimes challenging questions they ask the presenter.  Some of the visiting college faculty who usually teach typical college students are surprised at how vigorous the questioning is.  One presenter said it felt like he was doing his doctoral orals all over again. 

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