Living Well

Active Living

Lewis Goldfarb
is learning new
hobbies.

NORINE ZIMMER
Special to the Jewish News

111

7/ 14

2000

100

illions of women and
men at varying stages of
life find themselves
going back to school for
self-improvement or in order to begin
their sometimes frustrating, sometimes
exhilarating process of starting entirely
new careers.
"When I closed my Birmingham
restaurant," says Sandy Sherman, 56,
of Troy, "I was anxious and scared
about going back to school. I never
thought I was intelligent enough or
college material, or patient enough
to sit in a classroom. Besides, who
wanted to be with all those kids?"
Today, Sherman holds a bachelor's
degree in social work from Madonna
University in Livonia and is assistant
director of employment
Services at Our House Club
House, a facility for adults with
psychiatric disabilities.
Sherman graduated from
Madonna University in 1999
— at the same time his son
Brian graduated high school.
Sherman's determination and
love of learning are shared by
millions of older adults. Dr.
Stuart Henry, director of the
Interdisciplinary Studies
Program and associate dean of
the College of Lifelong Learning
at Wayne State University, says,
"Older students, like other pop-
ulations, are diverse.
"They come back because
they have the time and money,
the freedom, and feeling the
need for more education than
they have obtained. Some are
even motivated by their families
to go -back to school."
Many of today's adults treat
the search for new awareness,
knowledge and insights as a way
of life. "These students", says Dr.
Henry, "are serious and hard-

Back To School

Formal and informal studies
are enriching lives.

Sandy
Sherman
went
back to
school to
change
careers.

working, although they
can also be sometimes
fixed in their view about
the world and some-
what resistant to new
concepts."
Nationwide, there are
more than 1,000 col-
leges encouraging the
older students to take
credit courses and 125
schools have adopted
special programs for the
older learner, according to the
Carnegie Institute. Innovative pro-
grams are springing up at worksites,
synagogues, churches, community and
adult-education centers, and even
combined learning and travel pro-
grams.
The positive accomplishments of
adult learners contradict the prejudice
that "you can't teach an old dog new
tricks." Dr. Fran Shor, profeisor of his-
tory and interdisciplinary studies at
Wayne State, says, "The most obvious
strength that the 50+ student brings to
the classroom is the wealth of experi-
ence, whether in the work world or
within the context of family responsi-
bilities.
"That experience then becomes an
important touchstone for probing new
ideas and analytical models provided
in the classroom. Sometimes," she
says, "older students express a great
deal of anxiety about their facility with
such analytical models. However, the
tenacity of the older learner helps to
overcome any gaps."
Debra Luria, 47, of West
Bloomfield, describes nursing
school as a daunting experience, but
it made her feel academically confi-
dent she could handle anything
after that. "The 'entrance and quali-
fyng exams for my Ph.D. program
made me a schrecking-wreck! I did-
n't have a psychology background
and it was scary. The qualifying
exams were the hardest. But, I felt
an academic confidence and compe-