Back to School

In January I returned to the classroom as a student for the first consequential time since 1970.  I had taken a few non-credit courses, but hadn’t paid for classes that would qualify me for something if and only if I succeeded. (In fact, I had had an almost complete free ride through scholarships in my first education. I'll pay nearly twenty times more for this program than my parents or I did for all my prior schooling.)

Specifically, I enrolled at the McCormack School for Policy and International Studies of the University of Massachusetts, Boston, to obtain certification in Mediation and Conflict Resolution.  That meant applying for admission, selecting a mix of required and optional courses, and beginning classes with attendance, participation, and assessment standards.   Eight short papers and two long, a team project, plus grades for classroom participation and points off for absences.

How’s it going?  Not bad at all, but…

The biggest challenge comes not from the classes, but from being part of a large metropolitan university in the twenty-first century.  UMass is a pile of interconnected buildings, linked by a second-story catwalk.  If you walk that catwalk from the near end to the far, you’ve traveled over a third of a mile; if you visit all the side passages to different buildings, it’s easily a mile round trip.  Most buildings have multiple branching corridors off central lobbies, and room designations like Science S-02-0125.  So I got extra-good workouts getting lost the first few days, and still can burn plenty of calories by “mall walking” before and after class.

Then there’s the cyber university.  In order to register and receive communications, you need to log into three different systems: one for classes and business matters, a second for e-mail, and a third for assignments and grades.  These do not all have the same password, naturally.  Then there are the assignments, which require you to set up a Dropbox account.  And finally, to submit papers, some professors prefer google docs.  It only took me three weeks or so to navigate the virtual campus, and I still worry that my papers have been transported from my desk, but as happened occasionally on Star Trek, have not landed on the intended planet.

As one who had literally never taken a class in a public institution in my life (Catholic elementary and secondary schools, Boston College, Harvard Grad and Divinity Schools, Episcopal Theological, Boston University and Harvard Law), I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect.  But the faculty are excellent and responsive, class size in the low twenties, assignments rigorous but not overwhelming (40 to 80 pages a week), and discussions lively and engaging.  Each night I arrive ate 6:00, and am usually surprised when we knock off at 8:30.

My classmates range from professionals at or near my own age to new graduate students young enough to be my grandchildren.  The group is more diverse than any I have ever studied with, and we all seem to get along very well.  Both teachers have set up a roster for providing snacks at break, which helps in a program where everyone dashes in after work and rushes home each night.

Best of all, I find that fifty-plus years of prior education and life experience actually are helping me put it all in context.  Often I find myself wishing I had known some of these approaches when dealing with parents, colleagues, and employees during my years in education, but the writing assignments in particular are a pleasure because they allow scope for bringing personal and other experiences into the discussion. Best of all, I have the time to delve deeply, using the internet, my past reading, and my recollections to push beyond the minimum.

My conclusion?  School age is every age, and “life-long learning” is much more than a trite phrase.  Just find a young person to help you through the mazes of the virtual and the actual school.