Never too Old to Learn

Bertie Gladwin, aged 90, has just been awarded his MA in Intelligence History from the University of Buckingham. Writing in the Guardian, he says:

Indeed, I was not really looking forward to attending my first seminar, worried about what to expect, but I needn’t have been – my fellow students (about 20 of them) immediately put me at ease. Two nice young ladies moved apart and offered me a chair between them. What a relief. The camaraderie between students is well known, and it was very much in evidence here. I made many friends among them, and they seemed to treat me no differently than any other, except for one big Kenyan lad who insisted on calling me “sir”. Their average age was in the mid-20s, and I am still in touch with some of them. The University of Buckingham attracts more than its share of students from all over the world – there were Americans, Chinese, Nigerians – and meeting them and enjoying their company was an unexpected bonus.

The most memorable thoughts I have of the university experience (which I sorely miss), were the wonderful seminars, especially when my old-fashioned, non-PC views would sometimes cause a friendly uproar among the students. I did enjoy that.

I Graduated Aged 90 – You’re Never too Old to Learn   [theGuardian]

Disce aut Discede

The motto of the Royal College of Colombo in Sri Lanka – ‘Learn or Leave’. Looks like it’s even flanked by fasces.

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Harvard Entrance Exam

In this ad from the New York Times circa 1870, Harvard tried to downplay the difficulty of its entrance exam, stating that 185 of 210 candidates were admitted. Interested in seeing if you would get in? Excerpts from the exam can be found here.

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Wintertime Activities

Spotted on an unknown university campus.

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University Declares Week Without Social Media

Harrisburg University of Science and Technology in Pennsylvania is enforcing a week-long ban on social media applications like Facebook, Twitter and Myspace. Access will be blocked from campus computers throughout the week, not as a disciplinary measure but as an experiment, according to university Provost Eric Darr.

“Often there are behaviors, habits, ways we use technology that we may ourselves not even be able to articulate because we’re not aware of them,” Darr says.

University Declares Week Without Social Media [NPR]