Older and wiser

I remember the moment when I first realized I was a mature student.

I was searching the internet before class started, when I noticed the young woman at the other end of the almost empty room was looking at me. After a few moments the woman began to speak.

“Excuse me, are you Jordan Gill?”

“Yes.”

“Did you go to Stanley High School?”

“Yes.”

I had no idea who this woman was. So I started to go through the rolodex in my head, trying to find a name or a face to match with this person.

“I’m Elizabeth McArthur, we went to the same school.”

I still had no idea who she was, which she quickly picked up on.

“I remember you because you were student council president.”

That was true, when I was in my senior year I was elected student council president.

“I was in grade seven.”

That last sentence did two things. I realized why I didn’t recognize her, and I started to feel very old.

*****

Mature students, or adult learners, are students who starts a degree after the age of 21, an age where many are graduating from university.

Mature students aren’t necessarily filling up lecture halls, but there is a steady increase in their enrollment. One statistic in the UK puts the increase at six per cent. Not astronomical, but an increase never-the-less.

There is some evidence that mature students are better in class than their younger counterparts.

“I’ve had several [mature students,]” said Don Dickson, a journalism instructor at St. Thomas University. “My experience with the mature students they really are here for a reason. They made a decision to go back to school, and it’s important to them. They find themselves quite committed.”

Dickson said that while he never asks the ages of his students, he does know that one is a grandmother. That grandmother is now starting to work in journalism.

*****

I woke up on a bed in my grandmother’s basement with little memory of the preceding 15 hours. All I knew was I had been sick, and that I had a massive headache.

I decided to skip class that day to drink with my cousin.

This was in January, 2008, almost eight years ago, I was 18 years old. It doesn’t feel that long ago, but at the same time it feels like an entire different life.

I was just beginning my second semester at school, studying Political Science at the University of New Brunswick. In the fall semester I had received high marks, it was the last semester for three years I would.

*****

Danielle Elliott is 27 and in her third year at St Thomas University. She originally was taking a degree in business in Ontario. However after two years she decided to drop out. It was during this time that she met a man who would become very important in her life.

“I had actually met the man who is now my husband when I was in college,” said Elliott. “He was joining the military just as I was finishing up my last semester [in college], and yeah. I met him, we fell in love, we got married a year later, and the next thing I knew I was in New Brunswick.”

Her husband’s military career led them to Oromocto where her husband George is stationed at CFB Gagetown. Elliott started working at the Days Inn.

“I just got a part time job to pay the bills,” said Elliott. “I slowly worked my way into a management position.”

While working at the Days Inn, Elliott decided to go back to school.

“It wasn’t a particularly bad job, I just wasn’t happy there,” said Elliott. “I’d considered joining the military in order to get more of an education. They told me I didn’t have enough volunteer hours, but if I could pay for the first year on my own, and reapply the second year. So, I came to STU.”

Elliott is aware of the difference between herself, and her younger classmates.

“When I see students coming in for class all hung over, or when I notice students that don’t come to class regularly, or that aren’t handing papers in on time it just kind of boggles my mind,” said Elliott. “You’re here, you’re paying so much money for it, make the best of it.”

*****

Oscar Baker III is a fourth year journalism student, and is 24. His path to STU was unconventional.

Baker was born in Presque Isles, Maine, but spent much of his childhood on the Elsipogtog reserve, formerly known as Big Cove. When he was in his teens he moved to St. Augustine, Florida, and after high school attended community college but he dropped out.

“The first semester I did really well, I think I had A/B honors roll, but the second semester I started drinking, smoking marijuana, and I ended up just flunking out,” said Baker. “So I decided to refocus my life a bit, work a bunch.”

It was after dropping out that Baker moved back to Elsipogtog. He worked, but wasn’t getting where he wanted to go. One incident cemented his need to do something more.

“At the A&W in Richibucto they promised me a supervisor job, I worked even harder, and that supervisor job never came,” said Baker. “I felt that I had talents that could go in other places.”

Is his age apparent when he is in class?

“All the time,” said Baker. “When discussions in class get off topic and I’m just sitting there like, ‘Okay, what the hell are we talking about, we’re not even talking about the subject matter.’ I wanna learn how to write, and we’re talking about life issues.”

*****

I went through three years of sub-prime education. I often wouldn’t go to school. When I did I hadn’t done the readings. There were courses that I would sign up for, and then never attend, until the last day for the exam prep. It’s amazing I wasn’t expelled, but I was put on academic probation.

But I did change.

I managed to do better in school. Fs and Ds were quickly being replaced with As and Bs.

My professors were growing more pleased with my performance. I was going to class. I was doing the readings. I was actually doing well.

I was finally able to graduate from UNB in May of 2013, but even before this date I knew that I wasn’t through with school.

There are only a few lines of work that a political science graduate can find real employment. The first is becoming a civil servant, a job I wouldn’t be able to get. The second is working with a political party, a job I would never want to do. The third is to become a Political Scientist, and continuing your education. I chose this option.

The only thing was; they weren’t convinced that I was ready. My marks for the previous two and a half years had been top notch. They told me if this had always been the case I wouldn’t have a problem.

Now all I had was a lifeline. If you take a few more courses, we may let you in.

I lasted a little over a month, before I quit. I needed to go a different direction.

*****

Anthony Peter-Paul is in his final year of university, he is 30 years old, and his journey to this point started with dropping out of high school at age 17.

“I moved around a lot when I was younger. I went to a lot of different schools, and I got sick and tired of changing schools so much so I just quit,” said Peter-Paul. “The last school that I went to was Bathurst and it just sucked, I couldn’t stand it, I couldn’t stand the people…Then they transferred me to this other school called the transition centre which is like the school for bad kids, and I just felt like a lowly piece of garbage there.”

Like most young people who have left school, Peter-Paul started working.

“I started fishing, and I started working in the woods. I did that until I ended up going to university,” said Peter-Paul.

Peter-Paul started going to UNB, without a major. He just hadn’t decided what area he wanted to go into. It wasn’t until a friend told him about the journalism program that Peter-Paul decided to go to STU.

“One course that I did do well on was English. So, I figured, ‘Alright I can write,’” said Peter-Paul. “Then I applied to go to STU because I knew that one of the skills I had at school, that I could pass the classes, was English, was writing.”

Peter-Paul was the oldest student interviewed for this piece, and he admits he does feel out of place among some of the younger students.

“Especially this year, I find this year there’s a lot of first year students at school, but also the maturity level is…it seems like there’s just a bunch of kids at school,” said Peter-Paul. “Now I feel that I’m older than everybody else, starting to get grey hairs, and whatnot.”

*****

In the winter of 2014, I entered the journalism program at STU. At first the transition was a little rough. A class of 25 had a year and a half to get to know each other; I was transplanted into the middle of it.

But I survived that. I am now in my final year. I am the news editor at the student newspaper “The Aquinian,” and my GPA last year was 4.1, a far cry from the 1.6 I earned one semester at UNB.

Some student’s do well going directly into college or university, some don’t. I do think that a lot of young people would benefit from waiting a few years before going to school. The worst that could happen is you don’t waste thousands of dollars getting Fs.