Campus Life : Eye on OU

Classmates as old as parents

By Megan Helgeson, Assistant Campus Life Editor
   
October 28, 2007 | 5 p.m.

Most students at Ohio University are technically adults -- that is, 18 years old or older. Having adults in class the same ages as students’ parents, however, has the younger adults questioning whether they feel awkward around their classmates or enthralled by them.

Some incoming freshmen did not even realize adults would be in their classes, and they were surprised at the beginning of the quarter.

“I knew there would be graduate students at college, just none in my freshmen classes,” freshman Brittany Parsons said.

One student even confused an adult with the professor.

“I was trying to change classes, and when I walked into the classroom I saw younger students and then an older woman with a satchel,” freshman John Midwood said. “I went up to her and asked her if I could talk to her about something, and she told me she was not the teacher. I made sure I asked first when I finally did speak with the teacher.”

Students’ opinions on whether they feel awkward about having adults in class are varied. Some are not bothered at all, while others feel a little uneasy.

“I was intimidated that they might know more,” Parsons said, “but they are in the same class as me so I guess they would not really.”

On the other hand most older adults say that they don’t feel uncomfortable and believe the other students feel the same way.

Rose Isgrigg, a 49-year-old student in a French class, has been around students for 25 years through her teaching experience and other courses she has taken.

“I think the students are comfortable around me,” she said. Isgrigg said that she is halfway through a B.A. in French and is taking the course to learn the language for a trip to France she plans to take.

Even if students do feel uneasy, no one doubts that these adults can add to the learning experience.

“Their experiences are different from what an average 18-year-old might know,” Parsons said.

Midwood agreed and said he also enjoys talking to an older individual in his class that has been in the Peace Corps and gone to different areas of the world. Isgrigg agreed that her age difference could be of value to the class, but she disapproves when adults try to “interact as a show.”

“We are here to learn, not to show how much we already know,” she said.

Whether an adult of 18 or of 50, the students at OU are here to learn. Each individual can give insights and experiences that can allow everyone to look past the age difference.