Being a "mature" student

At the University of Cincinnati, they would call a person like me a "non-traditional" student. Here the euphemism for person not between 18 and 22 is a "mature" student. "Mature" students are also quite rare here, or at least, there are more people like me at UC than there are at UL. There is a "mature" student group that I need to track down, but they do not seem to advertise themselves. The professors are not accustomed to having older students in class, and I have confused more than one instructor with questions that were not quite what they expected. Dad commented on my interaction with the history professor that I could argue my ideas by first acknowledging the professors idea and then extending it into my own idea, and that is a very good idea that I will try out on the history guy at the next tutorial. However, I have noticed that many people do not expect students to really have an idea so that they do not give the student enough time to formulate a full thought. This is another mental note to self: be sure to give students enough time to say something. It is hard to be on the spot and come up with a fully formed and coherent idea. Of course, a lot of students don't really have an idea to contribute, but for the ones who do, some time would be helpful.

The young man who teaches the Irish Language class is the youngest instructor, and he seems to deal best with non-traditional students as there are quite a number of them in his class. He in an inexperienced teacher, but he compensates by treating each person like a real human being with no professorial hubris. This respect is so important. Another mental note to self: no matter what, retain humility as a teacher! Some of these Senior Lecturers are so incredibly condescending that they just look right through a person. As a student, it can be pretty demoralizing. I hope I never did that: I know I will be extra careful from now on to never do that.

The guitar teacher is not like that at all. He is really a down to earth person, like the Irish language person. The music class is all 18-22, except for me, but he treats each student as an individual human being, even the jock who has no idea how to play the guitar. He is a real mensch. The teacher does play gigs, and I expect we'll hear about where he plays next week. It is a little hard for me to get to town gigs because the buses stop at 11:30, and most music doesn't get started until 9 or 10 at night. Most people take taxis home, but that is 10 Euro a pop, which is a little beyond my means. My task for Saturday is to scope the main traditional music venue, Dolan's Pub, and work out a safe way to run for the bus at 11:15 pm. I can hear my mother and husband shaking their fingers at me and saying, "Take the taxi, you jarhead!"