I want to go back to school.
I want to take History, and Architecture, and Religious Studies, and Bioinformatics.
Kinesiology might be useful. Oh, oh, oh … and Applied Mechanics! Now, that would be fun! And Economics – that’s a topic that’s always interested me. Yes, indeed, put Econ on the list.
But what about Law school? Maybe I could apply for Law school?
It’s always good to have a lawyer in the family. Law? Hmmmm ….
I want to go back to school.
These were my thoughts as I sauntered through the campus of the University of British Columbia one recent autumn afternoon. Knowledge! Learning! Beer! Like it or not, that seemed to be the package.
It was one of those postcard-perfect days. I strolled the campus as visions of cum laude plums danced in my head. The sun was shining. The trees were glorious in their autumn colour. Handsome lads and lasses scurried past en route to plumb the depths of Schopenauer, the Constitution, and Archimedes. Ahhh, to be young and invested in acquiring the secrets of the universe! The thought snuck up on me: why not go back?! It’s never too late, is it? I still recall the sign in Sedgewick Library: Joy in discovery lies behind the act of learning. It’s never too late for joy in your life, is it?
No, this time around I would be a mature student. Clearly, first time around I was an immature student. And how! University was so hard the first time around. Everything was at cross purposes. Here’s what I remember: Rain. Heavy book bags. Staggering reading list. B Lot parking, but only if I was lucky enough to have commandeered the family station wagon. It felt like it was a half day’s walk from the campus but it beat the three-transfer, two hour bus ride home.
Joy in discovery lies behind the act of learning.
A woman in one of my classes – a grown up with adult children my age – took pity on me. As luck would have it, she lived not far from me on the North Shore. She said she enjoyed the company on the long commute so she happily often gave me a lift. Her kids had flown the coop, her husband golfed when he wasn’t at work, so she’d gone back to school to take Anthropology. She said she was interested in sorting out why humans did what they did. She’d been to the cradle of civilization, all the big museums and had a lifetime of reading behind her. As for me, I had trouble even pronouncing Australopithecus, let alone understanding its role on the human timeline. I remember thinking, “This isn’t fair”. I was being graded against her vastly superior circumstances. I mean, she had cash, a car and knew what she was doing Saturday night. I was perennially broke, moved around inconveniently by bus, and Saturday night was always a jump ball. She was able to devote herself to her studies and, consequently, did well in her courses. I had a part-time job, romantic quandaries, and well, beer ….
… one in three students at post-secondary
institutions are mature students.
Mature students are considered to be students over the age of 40. The statistics are a little wobbly due to how Covid tampered with all things related to education, but, generally speaking, one in three students at post-secondary institutions are mature students. Of the approximately 1.4 million students enrolled at Canadian universities, about 75,000 of them are mature students. They return to school to refine their skills, switch careers or finish a degree they left uncompleted. Some go just to broaden their horizons. BC residents who are Canadian citizens or permanent residents over the age of 65 are also often exempt from tuition fees for some graduate programs and courses.
So, I think about it. And I think about it. I mean, I could probably knock it outta the park this time around. I mean, I have a car, some cash and I don’t even like beer anymore. Cum laude, here I come!
This week’s question for readers:
WHAT WOULD YOU STUDY IF YOU WENT BACK TO SCHOOL? WOULD YOU BE A BETTER STUDENT THIS TIME AROUND?
Leave your Comments below!
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Submissions to last week’s question:
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ABOUT REMEMBRANCE DAY? ARE YOU PARTICULARLY FEARFUL AT PRESENT?
I am a Canadian Legion member, it has been very heartening to see more young families attending Remembrance ceremonies with their children in recent years, as well as younger persons displaying the poppy pin. However, by on-the-street observation, these persons are still a minority. While the National Day Of Remembrance is established as a statutory holiday, when it falls on a Saturday or Sunday, I suspect that most people regard it as just another long weekend. On a personal note, I used to be a bus driver, on November 11, I would have the ceremony playing on the radio, and as 11 o’clock approached, would park the bus in the nearest stop, get out and stand on the sidewalk for that one minute of silence. Not once in ten years did any of my passengers join me. In fact, some appeared perplexed or annoyed as to why I was doing this.
Bruno Bandiera
I remember bringing five cents to school every year near Remembrance Day to buy my paper poppy during elementary school years. I didn’t really know what it was about but I lived in a British Protectorate country and one did what the queen said.
Now as an older person, I think about wars differently. These are events that happened because of the greed of men for power and money. There really should not be a need for Remembrance Day if wars never happened. And yet they still do. It is us that sent our young men to their heroic deaths and we mark a day for this unnecessary sacrifice. I understand politics are complicated but is “Peace, No War” so difficult to grasp?
Soon Loo Hung
Both my grandfathers and father were combat veterans of the Second World War. My paternal grandfather, Hermann Burgel, was killed in 1942. I tell my son about his great-grandmother, who received a letter from the army, telling her that her husband had been killed. She cried and cried, not understanding why he had to die. Everyday she found new tears to cry. As for conflict in the present, as Philip Caputo would say, “You will hear of wars and rumours of war” (Matthew 24).
Bob Burgel
In 2006, my mother, sister and I on a tour of Normandy beaches stopped at Beny-sur-mer cemetery.. We walked through the rows noting the names, ages and hometowns. As we were leaving, I opened the registry book and a name leapt out. It was a man who trained my mother for her first job (which was open as he was leaving to fight). We only had a Canadian flag pin to leave but the feeling of saluting a person I had never met will last forever.
Judy Tredgett
Thank you for a lovely column, honoring those who died to secure the freedoms we have enjoyed for many decades since.
Upon the British government’s declaration of war in September 1939, my uncle Lawrence enlisted in the British Army to try to stop the monster, Adolph Hitler, from devouring the world. A year later, he was dead at Dunkirk.
To honor my Uncle Larry’s sacrifice, I vote. I vote in every civic, provincial and federal election. If I don’t, I demean his memory and sacrifice. It’s the least I can do. Sorry if that sounds like a slogan, but it’s true.
Michael Price
What are my thoughts on Remembrance Day? I have many. I go back to when I was in Berlin just after the fall of the wall. Around the corner from my hotel
was a burned out church. I was told it was going to stay like that forever to remind Germany not to start another war. Truth or not, it made some sense to me. I also go back to visiting cemeteries in Normandy. It is literally impossible to visit these and not be moved. Our guide took us to the Canadian cemetery which was a wonderful example of simplicity and elegance. We went to the American cemetery and saw the most spectacular presentation centre, where, upon leaving, we heard a recording of the names and hometowns of Americans killed on D Day and shortly thereafter. There was not a dry eye among us. But the most impactful visit was to the German cemetery. Just entering it we felt the pain. The gloom was breathtaking. I saw the grave of a 15 year old, a child sent to die in war they could not possibly understand, and I asked myself “why”. Am I fearful at present, for sure. But on Remembrance Day I always give thanks for our military who fight on foreign soil. They fight over there so we can be safe over here. But over and over I hear myself saying, why.
Dennis J. Magrega
I have no memories of Remembrance Day growing up, so I doubt my parents took us to any ceremonies, but I can’t ask them now so I’m not sure. I never went when I grew up. But when our son was born, we took him every year, regardless of the weather. I felt it was important that he gained at least some understanding of the importance of the day. Now that he is married and moved away, I know he and his wife do not go on their own, but I am betting that when they have kids, they will. I will take them if they don’t.
Joel Nitikman, KC
Like yourself, I remember The World at War being on television. Fast forward to recent times, a friend of mine lent me the boxed set and I watched the whole series. It was sobering, harrowing, yet informative. I was fascinated by the forethought of someone making such an epic production that included interviews with major participants from the war talking in their own words, candidly, never to be repeated as they are all gone now.
It was extremely impactful, but none so much for me as Oradour-sur-Glane, somewhere I had never heard of until watching the story in 2010. I researched this atrocity, both saddened and appalled, and in 2013 while in France, my wife and I made a point of visiting there.
We were fortunate enough that there were hardly any other visitors there so as not to detract from the sheer horror of it all. We spent a long time there reflecting. I purchased a book whilst there, it contains accounts from some of the few survivors. It was General de Gaulle who insisted that the ruins of the village should remain untouched as a memorial.
Mick Short
It’s so disturbing that “ the War to end all wars” was anything but that. The continual disregard for people by those “few power hungry decision makers” from every race has resulted in unbelievable pain, suffering, a sense of futility and the loss of many innocent lives. Can we not ever learn from past wars? Or are we doomed to suffer the ultimate price now that we are capable of destroying the whole world many times over.
Carolyn Matthews
At age 77, I reflect back on the physical suffering these men and women endured in battle.
As a 30 year now-retired paramedic, I’ve seen just about every major physical injury imaginable. From broken and torn off limbs, from bullet holes to disembowelment, etc. and can’t forget what these brave souls must have gone through as their lives slowly left them, alone and terrified at the end. That’s what I recall whenever I think of Remembrance Day.
Jeff Laurie
I think Remembrance Day is a wonderful opportunity to show our veterans how much we appreciate their service, and to remember those who died to preserve our freedom. I direct a small group of seniors called ‘The Londoners’ and we sing in Seniors homes about four times a month with a different program every month. In November we present a program of songs from the wars, which is much appreciated by those we sing to in the homes. We are lucky enough to have a real veteran in our group, aged 97, and he reads ‘In Flanders Fields’ complete with a story of his service, and the origin of the poem.
I am not particularly fearful at present, but am glad I live in Canada, not Israel, Gaza or Ukraine!
Marny Pierson
It’s so disturbing that “ the war to end all wars” was anything but that. The continual disregard for people by those “few power hungry decision makers” from every race has resulted in unbelievable pain, suffering, a sense of futility and the loss of many innocent lives. Can we not ever learn from past wars? Or are we doomed to suffer the ultimate price now that we are capable of destroying the whole world many times over.
Carolyn Matthews
I offer these memories of my father whom I remember every day of the year, George Franklin Clement, October 17, 1920 – June 29, 2000. A high school dropout during the 1930s, he joined the RCAF early in the war, discovered a knack for flying and served both as a flight instructor and then flying convoy patrol over the North Atlantic, protecting convoys from Nazi U-boat attacks in Canso amphibious aircraft and then in VLR (Very Long Range) B-24 Liberator bombers.
Dad hated war. He felt lucky to escape the war alive, completed secondary school after I was born, (March, 1944) studied medicine and graduated with his MD in 1952.
I am very concerned for the safety of the world now under threat of both war (Israel/Hamas) and individual evil – an 11-year-old boy intentionally killed in a gangland hit in Edmonton. Am I particularly fearful at present? No, I’ve been fearful for a long time but with faith in the Spirit that animates creation I find the strength to do what I can to work for peace.
John Clement