I have found the one drawback to going to college in your forties ... the other students.

WOW! These kids drive me out of my mind. They seem so shallow and immature. And on the whole they have no work ethic at all. They appear, as a whole, to be quite lazy. Many of them spend no time studying and then complain about low grades. UGH! I really don't like teenagers. Yet I am surrounded by them many hours every week. It is a form of torture.

Some of my female friends have said how "lucky" I am to be on campus with "all those hot young guys." I'll grant that some of them are quite nice looking. But they are barely more than children. Quite frankly that sentiment makes me queasy. It's just gross. They're young enough to be my kid. Ewww.

But aside from that ... Why? WHY??? Why would any sane woman over 40 want to date a guy in his twenties? They've got no life experience, no maturity, nothing in common with us ... And in most cases they don't seem to have the sense that God gave a June bug. Why would you want to date your child? I can honestly say that the "cougar" mentality escapes me. Or am I just crazy?

Most young people have never had any significant contact with any adult. Perhaps you can help them.

CDL

I hate to sound like a witch ... but I have neither the time nor the inclination to "help" them, even if they wanted to be helped. Which they don't. They're all so busy being self-absorbed little twits that they take no notice of the world around them. If it doesn't involve them they aren't interested. They waste too much of my money for me to be anything but annoyed.

They are the creation of their shallow and immature older teachers, who are a the creation of the teachers of the 60's generation.

There is a ripple effect through time

Western society has lost the anchor of faith - things will only get worse unless we return to God.

That's what I was hoping Carole would see. You said it better than I did.

CDL

It's not that I do see or understand what the Ancient Oracle said. But honestly, there are hundreds of them and only one of me. I doubt that an hour and 15 minutes twice a week would really have that much of an impact on them.

As the Christophers say "If everyone lit just one little candle what a bright world this would be." Pick out one and evangelize.

Don't worry! It's not your job to correct all of their problems.

Your task is to live your time with then in a way the proclaims, this is the way - walk in it'

For those you can't reach remember the words of St. Paul in Philippians 4 11Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.

12I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.

They drive me nuts because they are costing me time and money that I don't have to spare. Every time an instructor has to stop class to tell some inconsiderate little jerk to turn off his MP3 player, stop using their cell phone or to just be quiet and pay attention I lose class time.

It drives me nuts.

I'm not rude to them. Nor am I expressive of my disdain for their antics.

But the fact is that it annoys me. I spent a lot of my own money (i.e., not a Pell Grant or a Stafford Loan) to take these classes. I am taking time away from my responsibilities as a mother, as a wife and as a daughter to aging parents (one of whom is seriously ill) to attend classes and study. Putting up with these children who talk about cheating as though there is nothing wrong with it, who don't do their work or do their work poorly or sloppily, brag about not studying and then take up class time complaining about their low test scores, etc. is the one draw back to going back to school. I have better things to do with my time than see it wasted by selfish children.

I wonder how Jesus, King of the Universe, felt walking among weak ignorant men?

Carole,

As a teacher of these punks I do understand your frustrations. Many of my older students complain of the same things as you do. I worry about the future of our country and know that many of these students will be worse than worthless for themselves, their families, and the nation.

Still, why are you in college? I don't just mean to advance yourself which is not a bad thing. But why does God have you there? Find out what your vocation at the college is and with contentment fulfill it.

CDL

I am in college to get a degree which will allow me to make enough money to support myself if my husband and I get divorced. That's it. That is the sum total of the reason I am there.

You are planning for a divorce? I will keep you in my prayers.

Also, you need to find out the real reason you are there. I will pray for you to that end as well.

CDL

Deleted by Carole

This wasn't supposed to be this heavy of a thread. It was supposed to just be a minor vent about the frustration of being the only adult in a class full of 13th graders. It got out of hand. So I'm done.

What exactly do you expect from them? This is precisely the way they've been raised and how college is expected to be. They have never been raised to or expected to have adult responsibilities or decorum. College is simply throwing a large mass of them together with even less oversight than before. Furthermore, they are not the only ones. Your age group, the same age group that raised them to be that way, has plenty of people that way as well.

If you can't stand them, try either a community college, night classes, or online. Those tend to have a greater proportion of older folks.


---Not 40+ but recently from college and commonly mistaken for that age online for some reason.

FYI - I am taking classes at a community college. and the majority of the students are 13th graders.

As for what I expect from them. I expect the common courtesy of not using their cell phones in class, of not sleeping during class, of not talking amongst themselves in class. All things they should have learned long before they ever reached their freshman year of high school.

I also expect them to know that if they only spend 1 hour studying for a biology test that covers 4 chapters and two weeks of lectures that they shouldn't be surprised and whiny when they get an F. It doesn't take a genius to realize that if you don't put in the work you won't get the grades. So when they talk about partying all weekend rather than studying and then they get an F on the test, I expect them to suck it up and deal with it rather than arguing for 20 minutes about how it isn't fair that a question that wasn't in the notes, but was in the chapter that they didn't read, was on the test.

I don't expect much at all.

But even that little is lacking in the vast majority of the children on campus. And I'm sorry - but it is annoying because when they waste class time they are wasting a great deal of my money. Unlike these children my college courses are not being paid for by my parents or a Pell Grant. I actually pay for these classes.

When people are wasting my time and money I will complain about it. I am a conscientious student who is there to learn. Not to listen to my MP3 player, send text messages on my iPhone or talk to the person behind me about my "hot date" the night before. If I want to do those things I do it on my own time.

And quite honestly, by the time one reaches the point of graduating from high school these things should already have been learned. I am not expecting them to be as mature as someone in their thirties or forties. But a modicum of common sense is not beyond their abilities. I have a child just a few years younger than most of my fellow students and she manages to comport herself more maturity. It isn't difficult.

I went back to school in my late 20's and sadly, even then I could see the vast difference between those right out of high school and those of us in night school. Those of us in night school worked during the day and then went to school at night. We were all much more serious about our time because we had so little of it. Even those that were younger but worked and were in school at night, were much more serious and didn't play around.

Schools encourage the kids not to work because then they can't focus. While it's great to be able to focus, to me, it doesn't seem to help the kids to do. It just gives them more hangout time.

I hear ya, Carole and I can understand what you're going through. Any chance you can find some night classes?

Lisa

Night classes won't really work for me. The idea is to be in school during the day while my daughter is in school so that I can be home in time to pick her up, assist her with her homework, make dinner and generally be available to my family in the evenings. Besides, I have a much better choice of classes during the day.

It isn't unbearable, but it is annoying and every once in a while I like to vent a little to people who are old enough to "get it."

You brought back a memory. I'm not sure how many years ago it was, but I was probably in my late 30's, when I took a statistics class at the local college "just for fun." The students in the class were rude, vulgar (frequent use of the 'F' word), noisy, and generally undisciplined. I don't remember ever experiencing anything like it when I got my B.S. straight out of high school. I took Stat II the next semester and it was totally different. I think that the students in the first class were in it only because they had to be and because the prof was known to be easy. The second prof was someone whom they would have surely avoided, who expected you to do work and actually learn.

Hopefully, as you move on to more advanced classes you'll encounter a better type of student. A lot of those 13th graders just might flunk out.