EveryMan Learning

When you get to a certain age, there is a tendency to panic at the thought of anything more challenging than learning to play scrabble or sudoko it seems.  I go to healthy walking group regularly and the rest of our group is mixed but mostly over 60s – it being a weekday.  I have made it a point to engage lots of the walkers in general conversation regarding their past careers, and what made them do this and that.  They don’t seem to mind.  I am fascinated by how each person has reached any particular pinnacle of success and how they did so.  What is obvious is so many miss the discipline of going to work and the training courses they may have attended in latter years.   Many of my pals have taken up a real variety of training opportunities with U3A for example – and the world is very much their oyster.

There is such a lot of talk these days about the need for further education, going to university seems to be the be all and end all of the upper school education system.   Sometimes there are good reasons why not to take up a university place – maybe an apprenticeship opportunity comes along – that offers first class on the job training and a small paypacket.  After the 5 or 7 years, the candidate becomes a proud and fully trained motor mechanic, plumber or other vital trade.

As with all of life’s conundrums, careful thought has to be given to the benefits that might come from a specific career focused degree course.  For example, nursing – at one time a student nurse did training in the nursing school, then weeks on the ward and then back to the school for finals.  They were paid as working student nurses.   All these career based courses rely on continual top up training, usually online to keep development going.

My mother belongs to the biggest womens’ group you can imagine.  It’s well known throughout this country and probably the world and if it’s good enough for our monarch and her mother, then it’s certainly good enough for us.  There are so many different facets to this huge federation.  Mum has met an incredible range of folk and the speakers that come to entertain and hopefully educate the groups have been in the main, absolutely fascinating and interesting.   There have been one or two who could brush up on their delivery style, but generally the speakers are only paid a tiny amount for their expenses and are not really in the ‘after dinner speaker’ class.

The federation also facilitates learning – in a very big way.  They have every subject available and a ready made college for the purpose, although it’s a bit of a luxury to be residential – but probably suited to a queen!