Spring Break
Introducing the passion of the Old School
Sanjai Tripathi
Issue date: 1/14/09 Section: Forum
They lurk in many undergraduate classrooms.
Usually they sit near the front, furiously taking notes and frequently stopping lectures to ask irritatingly earnest questions.
Their clothes are terrible.
Among a sea of supple, young undergraduates, their weathered skin and graying hair creates a sharp contrast.
"They" are the older than the average college student, and are what I like to call the "Old School."
And I am one of them.
We are out of place in the undergraduate classroom, like the rough among diamonds. If you are in the 18-23 age range, you may pity us or disdain us as outsiders, but I contend you should take note. As freakish as we seem to you, you could learn something very profound from us.
For one thing, we've seen more of the world. It is cliche, but true: young people are far less knowledgeable and wise than they think they are, we experienced people know things that you do not.
We've seen what happens when the world turns.
When I was young, we didn't have Google to answer our every question because we didn't have search engines, because we didn't have the Internet, because we didn't have computers.
We used typewriters or we just wrote stuff by hand. Do you know what it feels like to write a 10-page, single-spaced paper by hand?
There was no spell check, so you just had to know how to spell stuff. What happened if you made a mistake writing in pen, you may ask? Well, there was this stuff called "white-out" that you would slather onto the page.
And if you wanted to "cut and paste," you needed scissors and glue, baby.
I remember when it was cool to drink and drive and when everybody smoked cigarettes. Not only could you smoke inside offices and restaurants, you could also smoke inside airplanes. Think about that for a second.
Now we have problems with Nigerian e-mail scams and financial scandals, but back in the day, we just had crime. There were three times as many rapes and murders in the 80s as there are now.
Usually they sit near the front, furiously taking notes and frequently stopping lectures to ask irritatingly earnest questions.
Their clothes are terrible.
Among a sea of supple, young undergraduates, their weathered skin and graying hair creates a sharp contrast.
"They" are the older than the average college student, and are what I like to call the "Old School."
And I am one of them.
We are out of place in the undergraduate classroom, like the rough among diamonds. If you are in the 18-23 age range, you may pity us or disdain us as outsiders, but I contend you should take note. As freakish as we seem to you, you could learn something very profound from us.
For one thing, we've seen more of the world. It is cliche, but true: young people are far less knowledgeable and wise than they think they are, we experienced people know things that you do not.
We've seen what happens when the world turns.
When I was young, we didn't have Google to answer our every question because we didn't have search engines, because we didn't have the Internet, because we didn't have computers.
We used typewriters or we just wrote stuff by hand. Do you know what it feels like to write a 10-page, single-spaced paper by hand?
There was no spell check, so you just had to know how to spell stuff. What happened if you made a mistake writing in pen, you may ask? Well, there was this stuff called "white-out" that you would slather onto the page.
And if you wanted to "cut and paste," you needed scissors and glue, baby.
I remember when it was cool to drink and drive and when everybody smoked cigarettes. Not only could you smoke inside offices and restaurants, you could also smoke inside airplanes. Think about that for a second.
Now we have problems with Nigerian e-mail scams and financial scandals, but back in the day, we just had crime. There were three times as many rapes and murders in the 80s as there are now.
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