I have noticed something these past couple of months. Older people seem to thoroughly enjoy labeling every aspect of their lives. Especially older people at university.
Being a mature student, I tended to gravitate toward a couple of older students, which is to be expected. I probably would have dropped out of uni if I'd been surrounded entirely by kids fresh out of high school. They can be a little .......distracting.
One thing I was not expecting, was to be more irritated by older students than younger students! I know mature students tend to get a bit of a reputation from the younger kids, but I thought it was just kids being, well, kids. I didn't put a lot of credibility into it. Until I started university, this time around. Sure, older students tend to be more open to expressing themselves during tutorials, etc., but that is something that comes with age, and isn't necessarily a bad thing. Well, I don't think it is. I was prone to voicing my thoughts during many tutorials, although I did often wait to see if anyone else was going to say something before I opened my mouth. I even encouraged younger students, on more than one occasion! However, what I found, that may tie in with this observation, along with the 'reputation' of mature age students, is that older people go on tangents! They take things off topic, and then go on and on AND ON about it, thus wasting perfectly good tutorial time!! This time is precious, and I seriously do not appreciate it being wasted by pretentious older people who think they are better than everyone else!
The thing that made this worse was that I apparently don't look even remotely close to my age. As such, I had more than one older student talk down to me, like I was a piece of unwanted gum on the bottom of her shoe. EXCUSE ME, LADY. Why are you better than me, or any other student at this university? We all went through the same application process, have to endure the same grueling readings and assignments, and all qualify with the same degree - if you happen to be studying the same course, anyway. Like seriously, you're too old to be this immature. Stop it now, before you further ruin the reputation of mature age students worldwide.
And to the younger university students: I apologise. I swear, we are not all that bad! Some of us are helpful, friendly, and maybe even awesome individuals. We just have the added advantage of living away from home, having a fridge full of food, and most of us have money in the bank. That doesn't mean you can monopolise us, but it also doesn't mean we cannot be friends with each other. Who knows? We may come in handy one day. ;)
Okay, that will do. This is so much longer, and rantier, than I expected it to be, and I digressed more than a little! :P
Peace out.
- L. x
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