Opinion: The advantages of being an older student

They tell me there are advantages to being an older student. I am not always feeling it. I feel my age in every joint and muscle.

I am surprised each time when I manage to walk all the way from the parking lot beyond the football field. It was brutal when the weather was hot.

But on the other hand, because I am older and have been in college before, I know a few things about how to get on.

Early in the semester I used the restroom during my math class, and a brand-new freshman asked me how I could just do that without asking permission.

This is college. You can go to the bathroom whenever you want to.

I also notice the advantage of my experience when other students are trying to figure out how to use the copier in the Clarion news room. I’ve had a spate of office jobs. I know copiers.

These are little things I’ve noticed, but I think I have some other advantages that are a real help.

I think I have more of an idea of what I am doing and what I want to get out of school now. I started college when I was 17. I was really lost at that age.

I also have more focus. I am not distracted by some of the social imperatives of young adulthood.

I know what life was like before cell phones, and while I love mine, I am not connected to it by an invisible umbilical cord the way it seems some younger students are.

My life experience counts for something, too. I have been around for more presidencies, more space exploration, more technological discoveries, and this has given me an edge in some of my courses.

My experience in the working world has also created some advantages for me.

I have decades of experience multi-tasking and keeping my work organized. I also have a sense of the time it takes to complete certain tasks, so I am able to prioritize homework and projects effectively.

I’m not perfect, though. I have some ingrained bad habits to break, and the young, fresh attitudes of my fellow students help me see things with new eyes.